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A  UTHOR : 


MclNTYRE,  JAMES  LEWIS 


TITLE: 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PLACE: 


LONDON,  NEW  YORK 


DA  TE : 


1903 


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<JoNT«.T8.-p,. ,.  ufe  Of  Bn.no..-pt.  „.  Phl,oaophy*„f  Bruno. 

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Iglii' I <IBiiii 


GIORDANO   BRUNO 


BY 


J.  LEWIS   McINTYRE 

M.A.   IDIN.    AND   OXON.  :    D.SC.    IDIN. :    ANDERSON    LECTURER    IN    THE 

UNIVERSITY   OF   ABERDEEN 


Hontion 

MACMILLAN   AND  CO.,  Limited 

NEW  YORK  :    THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

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PREFACE 

This  volume  attempts  to  do  justice  to  a  philosopher 
who  has  hardly  received  in  England  the  consideration 
he  deserves.  Apart  from  the  Life  of  Giordano  BrunOy 
by  I.  Frith  (Mrs.  Oppenheim),  in  the  English  and 
Foreign  Philosophical  Library,  1887,  there  has  been  no 
complete  work  in  our  language  upon  the  poet,  teacher, 
and  martyr  of  Nola,  while  his  philosophy  has  been 
treated  only  in  occasional  articles  and  reviews.  Yet 
he  is  recognised  by  the  more  liberal-minded  among 
Italians  as  the  greatest  and  most  daring  thinker  their 
country  has  produced.  The  pathos  of  his  life  and 
death  has  perhaps  caused  his  image  to  stand  out  more 
strongly  in  the  minds  of  his  countrymen  than  that  of 
any  other  of  their  leaders  of  thought.  A  movement  oiF 
popular  enthusiasm,  begun  in  1876,  resulted,  on  9th 
June  1889,  in  the  unveiling  of  a  statue  in  Rome  in  the 
Campo  dei  Fiori,  the  place  on  which  Bruno  was  burned. 
Both  in  France  and  in  Germany  he  has  been  recognised 
as  the  prophet,  if  not  as  the  actual  founder,  of  modern 
philosophy,  and  as  one  of  the  earliest  apostles  of  free- 
dom of  thought  and  of  speech  in  modern  times. 

The  first  part  of  the  present  work — the  Life  of 

vn 


««h 


VUl 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


Bruno — is  based  upon  the  documents  published  by 
Berti,  Dufour,  and  others,  and  on  the  personal  refer- 
ences in  Bruno's  own  works.  I  have  tried  to  throw 
some  light  on  Bruno's  life  in  England,  on  his  relations 
with  the  French  Ambassador,  Mauvissiere,  and  on  his 
share  in  some  of  the  literary  movements  of  the  time. 
I  have,  however,  been  no  more  successful  than  others 
in  finding  any  documents  referring  directly  to  Bruno's 
visit  to  England. 

In  the   second   part — The  Philosophy  of  Bruno — I 
have  sought  to  give  not  a  systematic  outline  of  Bruno's 
philosophy  as  a  whole  under  the  various  familiar  head- 
ings, which  would  prove  an  almost  impossible  task,  but 
a  sketch,  as  nearly  as  possible  in  Bruno's  own  words,  of 
the  problems  which  interested  this  mind  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  of  the  solutions  offered.     The  first 
chapter  points  out  the  sources  from  which  Bruno  derived 
the  materials  of  his  thinking.     The  succeeding  chapters 
are  devoted  to  some  of  the  main  works  of  Bruno, — the 
Causa  (Chapter  IL),  Infinito  and  De  Immenso  (Chapters 
III.  and  IV.),  Be  Minimo  (Chapter  V.),  Spaccio  (Chap- 
ter VI.),  and  Heroici  Furori  (Chapter  VII.),— and  contain 
as  little  as  possible  of  either  criticism  or  comment,  except 
in  so  far  as  these  are  implied  in  the  selection  and  arrange- 
ment of  the  material.     I  have  adopted  this  method 
partly  because  Bruno's  works  are  still  comparatively 
unknown  to  the  English  reader,  and  partly  because  his 
style,  full  as  it  is  of  obscurities,  redundances,  repetitions, 
lends  itself  to  selection,  but  not  easily  to  compact  ex- 
position.    Several  phases  of  Bruno's  activity  I  have  left 


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PREFACE 


IX 


almost  untouched — his  poetry,  his  mathematical  theories, 
his  art  of  memory.  The  eighth  chapter  turns  upon  his 
philosophy  of  religion,  about  which  there  has  been  much 
controversy  ;  while  the  last  attempts  to  bring  him  into 
relation  and  comparison  with  some  of  the  philosophers 
who  succeeded  him.  I  subjoin  a  list  of  works  and 
articles  which  are  of  importance  for  the  study  of  Bruno. 
Throughout  I  have  referred  for  Bruno's  works  to  the 
recent  Italian  edition  of  the  Latin  works,  issued  at  the 
public  expense,  1879  to  1891  (three  volumes  in  eight 
parts,  with  introductions,  etc.),  and  to  Lagarde's  edition 
of  the  Italian  works— Gotha,  1888.  Of  the  latter  there 
are  two  volumes,  but  the  paging  is  continuous  from  one 
to  the  other,  page  401  beginning  the  second  volume. 

J.  LEWIS  MaNTYRE. 


University  of  Aberdeen, 
i6r-4  July  1903. 


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CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Biographies        ......••.       xv 

Works  and  Essays     ........     xvii 

PART  I 
Life  of  Bruno i 

PART  II 

Philosophy  of  Bruno 119 

CHAPTER  I 

The  Sources  of  the  Philosophy 121 

CHAPTER   II 

The  Foundations  of  Knowledge        .         .         .         .         •     ^53 

CHAPTER   III 
The  Infinite  Universe — The  Mirror  of  God  .         .         .180 

CHAPTER   IV 
Nature  and  the  Living  Worlds         .         .         .         .         .203 

XI 


Xll 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


CHAPTER  V 

The    Last   and    the    Least    Things:    Atoms   and    Soul- 
Monads 


CHAPTER   VI 
The  Practical  Philosophy  of  Bruno 


Page 


223 


•  •  • 


252 


CHAPTER  VII 


The  Higher  Life 


277 


CHAPTER   VIII 
Positive  Religions  and  the  Religion  of  Philosophy 

CHAPTER  IX 

f    Bruno  in  the  History  of  Philosophy 


294 


INDEX 


323 


361 


1 


\ 


I 


BIOGRAPHIES  AND   GENERAL   V70RKS 

ON   BRUNO 

Bartholm^ss,  Christian,  Jordano  Bruno,  vol.  i.,  Paris,  1846 — on 
the  life  and  times  of  Bruno;  vol.  2,  1847 — on  his  works  and 
philosophy. 

Carri^re,  Moritz,  Die  philosophise  he  Weltanschauung  der  Re- 
formations zeit,  1st  ed.,  1847  ;  2nd  ed.,  1887. 

Berti,  Domenico,  Giordano  Bruno  da  Nola^  sua  vita  e  sua  dottrina. 
Appeared  first  in  the  Nuova  Antologia^  1867.  Some  nevjr  documents 
were  published  in  Documenti  intorno  a  Giordano  Bruno  da  Nola, 
1880.  A  second  edition  of  the  Life,  including  all  the  documents, 
appeared  in  1889. 

Dufour,  G.  B.  a  Geneve  (1578).  Documents  inedits -.  Geneve, 
1884.     Also  given  in  Berti's  second  edition. 

Sigwart,  Die  Lebensgeschichte  G.  B.*s  (  Verzeichniss  der  Doctoren, 
etc.,  Tubingen,  1880),  a  paper  which  is  expanded  and  corrected  in 
his  KUine  Schriften,  ist  series  (pp.  49-124  and  293-304)  :  Freiburg 
i.  B.,  1889. 

Brunnhofer,  G.  B.'s  Weltanschauung  und  Verh'dngniss  :  Leipzig, 
1882.     A  vigorous  eulogy  of  Bruno  and  his  work. 
w*»  Frith,  Li/e  of  Giordano  Bruno  :  London,  1887. 

Riehl,  Giordano  Bruno,  Zur  Erinnerung  an  den  17.  Februar,  1600  : 
Leipzig,  1st  ed.,  1889  ;  2nd,  1900. 

Kuhlenbeck  ("Landseck  ")  Bruno,  der  Mdrtyrer  der  neuen  Welt- 
anschauung :  Leipzig,  1 890. 

Pognisi,  G.  B,  e  V  Archivio  di  San  Giovanni  Decollate ;  Torino, 
etc.,  1 89 1. 

Italian  biographies  and  pamphlets  are  innumerable.     Among  the 
best  are — 

Mariano,  G.  B,  La  Vita  e  Puomo:  Roma,  1881. 

•  •  • 

Xlll 


XIV 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


Levi,  G,  B.  0  la  Religione  del  Pensiero :  Torino,  1887. 

Morselli,  G.  j5.,  CommemoraxiQney  etc. :  Torino,  1888.  Morselli 
regards  Bruno  as  the  precursor  of  all  modern  philosophy,  and  as 
prophet  of  most  of  the  scientific  discoveries  of  the  19th  century. 

Tocco,  G.  B,  Conferenxa:  Firenze,  1886.  On  Bruno*s  religion 
and  philosophy  of  religion. 

Of  writers  in  English  on  Bruno  may  also  be  named  : — Owen,  in 
his  Sceptics  of  the  Italian  Renaissance:  London,  1893  (pp.  244-342)  ; 
Daniel  Brinton  and  Thomas  Davidson,  G.  5.,  Philosopher  and 
Martyr,  Two  Addresses:  Philadelphia,  1890;  Plumptre,  in  his 
Studies  in  Little-known  Subjects:  London,  1898  (pp.  61-127) ;  Whit- 
taker  in  Essays  and  Notices,  1895  (reprinted  from  Mind,  April  1884 
and  July  1887) ;  the  Quarterly  Review  for  October  1902,  "Giordano 
Bruno  in  England  '* ;  and  R.  Adamson,  The  Development  of  Modern 
Philosophy:  Edinburgh  and  London,  1903,  vol.  2  (pp.  23-44). 


WORKS  AND  ESSAYS  ON  BRUNO'S 

PHILOSOPHY 

Of  these  the  most  important  are  the  works  of  Felice  Tocco,  to 
whom  all  students  of  Bruno  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  his  admir- 
able and  scholarly  appreciations  of  Bruno's  philosophy.  They 
arc  : — Le  Opere  Latine  di  G.  B,  esposte  e  confrontate  con  le  italiane : 
Firenze,  1889,  containing  summaries  of  the  Latin  works  and  a 
general  discussion  of  the  philosophy  of  Bruno  : — Le  Opere  Inedite 
di  G.  B,:  Napoli,  1 891,  with  a  similar  treatment  of  some  recently 
discovered  works  of  Bruno,  which  were  published  in  that  year  as 
the  last  volume  of  the  State  edition  :  ^ — Le  Fonti  piu  recenti  della 
filosofia  del  Bruno  (Acad,  dci  Lincei,  Rendiconti  Ser.  v.  i.  pp.  503  fF., 
585  fF.). 

Of  earlier  writings  one  of  the  most  valuable,  in  spite  of  its 
antipathy  to  Bruno,  is  that  of  F.  J.  Clemens,  G.  B.  und  Nicolaus  von 
Cusa,     Bonn,  1847. 

A.  Debs,  Ph,  Jordani  Bruni  Nolani  vita  et  placita,  Amiens, 
1844. 

Mamiani,  introduction  to  Fl.  Waddington's  translation  ot 
Schelling's  Bruno  (Firenze,  1845,  2nd  ed.,  1859). 

Fiorentino,  il  Panteismo  di  Bruno,     Napoli,  1861. 

Barach,  Philosophie  des  Giordano  Bruno,  with  special  reference  to 
the  theory  of  knowledge  and  monadology  {Phil.  Monatshefte  liii., 
1877). 

Spaventa,  Saggi  di  Critica  filosofica,  vol.  i.     Napoli,  1867. 

^  Vide  infra^  p.  113. 
XV 


XVI 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


Hartung,  Grundlinien  einer  Ethik  bet  G.  B,     Leipzig,  1878. 
Wernekke,   G.  B,*s  Polemik  gegen  die  aristotelische  Kosmologie, 
Dresden,  1871. 

Lasswitz,    G.   B,  und  die  Atomistik  {Vierteljahrs thrift  fur  wiss, 
Philos,  viii.  i.  1884. 

HofFding's  History  of  Modern  Philosophy,     Eng.  transL,  1900. 


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PART   I 


LIFE    OF    BRUNO 


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In   1548,  at  a  stormy  period  of  the  history  of  Italy,  Birth  and 
Bruno  was  born  in  the  township  of  Nola,  lying  within  ^''""^^* 
the  kingdom  of  Naples,  which  at  that  time  was  under 
Spanish  rule.      His   father,   Giovanni,   was   a   soldier, 
probably  of  good  family,  and  in  deference,  it  may  be 
supposed,  to  the  King  of  Spain,  the  son  was  named 
Filippo  ;  the  more  famous  name  of  Giordano  was  only 
assumed  when  he  entered  a  religious  order.     Through 
his   mother,   Fraulissa   Savolina,   a   German  or   Saxon 
origin  has  been  claimed  for  Bruno  ;  there  were  several 
inhabitants  of  Teutonic  name  in  the  village  of  his  birth 
— suggesting  a  settlement    of  Landknechts, — and    the 
name,  Fraulissa,  has  a  German  ring  ;  ^  but  Bruno  him- 
self nowhere  in  the  addresses  or  works  published  in 
Germany  makes  any  hint  of  his  own  connection  with 
the  race,  while  the  name  was  probably  a  generic  term 
for  the  wife  of  a  soldier,  borrowed  from  the  Swiss  or 
German  men-at-arms.^ 

Their  home  was  on  the  lower  slopes  of  Mount 
Cicala,  which  rises  above  Nola,  and  amid  its  laughing 
gardens  Bruno  first  imbibed  a  love  of  nature,  which 
marked  him  out  from  so  many  of  his  contemporaries. 
The  soil  of  Nola  is  among  the  most  fertile  of  all  Italy.  Noia. 
and  the  pleasant  plain  in  which  it  lies  is  ringed  with 

^  Brunnhofcr,  p.  321,  Appendix. 


2  Sigwart,  i.  p.  118  (note  5). 


3 


ISiiy'lijiSa 


;  I 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


hills  which  He  shadowy  under  the  clear  sky  ;  most 
prominent  and  most  mysterious  is  Vesuvius,  a  few  miles 
to  the  south.  But  the  charms  of  natural  beauty  in 
Nola  were  surpassed  by  those  of  picturesque  antiquity  : 
the  half-mythical  Pelasgians  founded  it  before  the  walls 
of  Rome  were  begun  ;  they  were  followed  by  the 
Chalcidians  of  Cuma,  from  whom  the  Nolans  inherited 
a  Greek  spirit,  calm  yet  quick,  eager  in  the  pursuit  of 
wisdom  and  in  the  love  of  beauty,  which  down  even 
to  the  1 6th  century  distinguished  them  above  other 
Italians.  There  followed  a  chequered  history  in  which 
the  Samnites,  the  early  Romans,  Hannibal,  Sulla,  and 
Spartacus,  played  successive  parts.  Nola  was  the  death- 
place  of  Augustus,  and  to  that  fact  owed  its  greatness 
in  Imperial  times,  when  its  two  great  amphitheatres 
and  multitude  of  beautiful  temples  topped  a  great  city, 
shut  in  by  massive  walls,  with  twelve  gates  that  opened 
to  all  parts  of  Italy.  Evil  times  were  to  come ; 
Alaric,  the  Saracens,  Manfred,  and  others  had  their  will 
of  Nola,  and  earthquakes,  flood,  and  plague  reduced  it 
by  the  end  of  the  15  th  century  to  one  tenth  of  its 
former  self.  It  had  its  own  martyrs,  for  the  old  faith 
'  and  for  the  new  ;  one  of  the  latter,  Pomponio  Algerio, 
suffered  during  Bruno's  lifetime  a  fate  that  fore- 
shadowed his  own  ;  accused  while  a  student  at  Padua  of 
contempt  for  the  Christian  religion,  he  was  imprisoned 
in  Padua,  Venice,  and  Rome,  and  finally  burnt  at  the 
stake.  Its  sons  never  lost  their  love  for  the 
mother-town ;  Bruno  speaks  of  it  always  with  affec- 
tion, as  to  him  "  the  garden  of  Italy " ;  of  a 
nephew  of  Ambrogio  Leone,  the  historian  of  its 
antiquities,  we  are  told  that,  on  returning  to  Nola 
after  a  few  days'  absence,  seeming  ill  with  longing, 
he   threw   himself  on   the   earth   and   kissed   it   with 


I  NOLA :  YOUNG  IMPRESSIONS  5 

unspeakable  joy.^  Perhaps  the  suggestion  of  Bar- 
tholmess  is  not  groundless,  that  the  volcanic  soil 
and  air  of  Nola  influenced  the  character  of  the 
people  as  of  the  wine.  "Hence  the  delicacy  of 
their  senses,  vivacity  of  gesture,  mobility  of  humour, 
and  passionate  ardour  of  spirit.^ 

Of  the  childhood  of  Bruno  little  is  to  be  learned,  childhood 
Cicala,  his  home,  he  describes  as  a  "little  village  of**    "*°°' 
four  or  five  cottages  not  too  magnificent."^     In  all 
probability  his  upbringing  was  simple,  his  surroundings 
homely.     We  need  not  go  further,  and  suppose  that! 
his  surroundings  were  not  only  homely,  but  degraded  \ 
and  vicious.^     His  father,  although  a  soldier  by  pro- 
fession, seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  some  culture  ;  at 
least  he  was  a  friend  of  the  poet  Tansillo,  who  excited 
the  admiration  of  the  young  Bruno,  and  first  turned 
his  mind  towards  the  Muses.     Tansillo's  poetry,  follow- 
ing the  taste  of  the  age,  was  not  too  refined,  but  its 
passion  called  forth  a  ready  reflection  in  the  ardent 
nature  of  the  lad.     It  was  perhaps  the  only  door  to 
the  higher  artistic  life  of  the  time  which  was  open  to 
Bruno  ;  the  neighbours,  if  we  may  judge  from  satiric 
references  in  the  Italian  Dialogues,  were  of  a  rough 
homely  type.     Bruno  tells,  for  example,^  how  Scipio 
Savolino  (perhaps  his  uncle)  used  to  confess  all  his  sins 
to  Don  Paulino,  Cure  of  S.  Primma  that  is  in  a  village 
near    Nola    (Cicala),    on    a   Holy    Friday,    of   which 
"  though  they  were  many  and  great,"  his  boon  com- 
panion the  Cure  absolved  him  without  difficulty.     Once 
was  enough,  however,  for  in  the  following  years,  with- 
out many  words  or  circumstances,  Scipio  would  say  to 
Don  Paulino,  "Father  mine,  the  sins  of  a  year  ago 

^  Berti,  Fita  dt  S.  B.^  p.  28.  "  Bartholmess,  vol.  i.  p.  26. 

'  Lagarde,  452.  23,  *  V.  additional  note.  *  Lagarde,  Op,  Ital.,  p.  101. 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


:  i 


to-day,  you  know  them "  ;  and  Don  Paulino  would 
reply,  "  Son,  thou  knowest  the  absolution  of  a  year  ago 
to-day — go  in  peace  and  sin  no  more  !  " 

One  incident  of  Bruno's  childhood,  which  has  been 
thought  a  promise  of  extraordinary  powers,  he  himself 
relates    in    the    Sigillus    Sigillorum.      Describing    the 
different  causes  of  "concentration,"^  {Contractio\  he 
instances  fear  among  them  : — "  I  myself,  when  still  in 
swaddling  clothes,  was  once  left  alone,  and  saw  a  great 
and  aged  serpent,  which  had  come  out  of  a  hole  in  the 
wall  of  the  house ;  I  called  my  father,  who  was  in  the 
next   room ;  he   ran  with    others   of   the    household, 
sought  for   a   stick,  growled  at  the  presence  of  the 
serpent,  uttering  words  of  vehement  anger,  while  the 
others  expressed  their  fear  for  me, — and  I  understood 
their  words  no  less  clearly,  I   believe,   than  I  should 
understand  them  now.     After  several  years,  waking  up 
as  if  from  a  dream,  I  recalled  all  this  to  their  memory, 
nothing  being  further  from  the  minds  of  my  parents ; 
they  were  greatly  astonished."  ^     As  well  they  might 
be!     It  is  hardly  right,  however,  to  see  in  the  story 
evidence  of  marvellous  faculty  showing  itself  in  infancy, 
beyond  that  of  an  impressionable  and  tenacious  mind. 
No  doubt  the  drama  had  been  repeated  many  times  by 
the  parents  for  behoof  of  visitors.^ 
1       Superstitious  beliefs  abounded  among  Bruno's  fellow- 
countrymen  ;  many  of  them  clung  to  him  through  life, 
were  moulded  by  him  into  a  place  in  his  philosophy, 
and  bore  fruit  in  his  later  teaching  and   practice  of 
natural  magic.     Thus  we  arc  told  how  the  spirits  of  the 
earth  and  of  the  waters  may  at  times,  when  the  air  is 

1  ue.  Heightening  of  normal  powers.  «  Op,  Lat,  ii.  a.  184. 

»  On  Bruno's  family  v.  Fiorcntiuo,  in  the  CmnaU  dt  la  Demenica  (Naples), 
for  Jan.  29, 1882. 


I      SUPERSTITION  AND  NATURAL  LAW     7 

pure  and  calm,  become  visible  to  the  eye.  He  himself 
had  seen  them  on  Beech  Hill,  and  on  Laurel  Hill,  and 
they  frequently  appeared  to  the  inhabitants  of  these 
places,  sometimes  playing  tricks  upon  them,  stealing 
and  hiding  their  cattle,  but  afterwards  returning  the 
property  to  their  stalls.  Other  spirits  were  seen  about 
Nola  by  the  temple  of  Portus  in  a  solitary  place,  and  even 
under  a  certain  rock  at  the  roots  of  Mount  Cicala, 
formerly  a  cemetery  for  the  plague-stricken  ;  he  and 
many  others  had  suffered  the  experience  when  passing 
at  night  of  being  struck  with  a  multitude  of  stones, 
which  rebounded  from  the  head  and  other  parts  of  the 
body  with  great  force,  in  quick  succession,  but  did  no 
injury  either  to  him  or  to  any  of  the  others.^  It  was 
at  Nola  that  Bruno  saw  what  seemed  a  ball  or  beam  of 
fire,  but  was  "really"  one  of  the  living  beings  that 
inhabit  the  ethereal  space  ;  *'  as  it  came  moving  swiftly 
in  a  straight  line,  it  almost  touched  the  roofs  of  the 
houses  and  would  have  struck  the  face  of  Mount  Cicala, 
but  it  sprang  up  into  the  air  and  passed  over."  ^  To 
understand  the  mind  of  Bruno,  it  is  necessary  to 
remember  the  atmosphere  of  superstition  in  which  he 
lived  as  a  child. 

One  lesson  from  nature  was  early  implanted  which '  Unity  of 
gave  body  and  form  to  Bruno's  later  views  :  he  had 
seen  from  Cicala,  the  fair  mount,  how  Vesuvius  looked 
dark,  rugged,  bare,  barren,  and  repellent ;  but  when 
later  he  stood  on  the  slopes  of  Vesuvius  itself,  he  dis- 
covered that  it  was  a  perfect  garden,  rich  in  all  the 
fairest  forms  and  colours,  and  luxurious  bounty  of 
fruits,  while  now  it  was  his  own  beloved  hill.  Cicala, 
that  gloomed  dim  and  formless  in  the  distance.  He 
learnt  once  for  all  that  the  divine  majesty  of  nature  is 

^  De  Magia,  Op.  Lat.  iii.  Op.  430,  431.  «  De  Immenso,  v.  Op.  Lat.  I  2.  p.  120. 


Nature. 


■■li 


1/ 


\ 


:  I 


Naples. 


1563. 


The      Di 

minicans. 


8 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


everywhere  the  same,  that  distance  alters  the  look  but 
never  the  nature  or  substance  of  things,  that  the  earth 
is  everywhere  full  of  life, — and  beyond  the  earth  the 
I  whole  universe,  he  inferred,  must  be  the  same.^ 

II 

j  When  about  eleven  years  of  age,  Bruno  passed  from 
Nola  to  Naples  in  order  to  receive  the  higher  education 
of  the  day — Humanity,  Logic,  and  Dialectic, — attend- 
ing both  public  and  private  courses  ;  and  in  his  fifteenth 
year  (1562  or  1563)  he  took  the  habit  of  St.  Dominic, 
and  entered  the  monastery  of  that  order  in  Naples.  Of 
his  earlier  teachers  he  mentions  only  two, — "  il  Sarnese," 
who  is  probably  "^rfn/.P  THI**  i\?  ^^'•n^j  a  writer  of 
repute,  and  Fr^JHieophilo  da  Vairano,  a  favourite 
exponent  of  Aristotle,  who  was  afterwards  called  to 
lecture  in  Rome.  Much  ingenuity  has  been  exercised 
in  attempting  to  find  a  reason  for  Bruno's  choice  of  a 

I  religious  life ;  but  the  Church  was  almost  the  only 
career  open  to  a  clever  and  studious  boy,  whose  parents 
were  neither  rich  nor  powerful.  The  Dominican  Order 
into  which  he  was  taken,  although  the  narrowest,  and 
the  most  bigoted,^  was  all-powerful  in  the  kingdom, 
and  directed  the  machinery  of  the  Inquisition.  Naples 
was  governed  by  Spain  with  a  firm  hand,  and  the 
Dominican  was  the  chosen  order  of  Spain.  Just  at  this 
time  there  were  riots  against  the  Inquisition,  to  which 
an  end  was  put  by  the  beheading  and  burning  of  two 
of  the  ringleaders.^  The  Waldensian  persecution  was 
then  fiercer  and  more  brutal  than  it  had  ever  been  ;  on 
a  day  of  156 1  eighty-eight  victims  were  butchered  with 

^  De  Immento,  iii.  (i.  i.  313). 
^  Ct.  the  punning  line  "  Domini  canes  evangelium  latrantur  per  totum  orbem.** 

*  Berti,  p.  50. 


\ 


I  THE  CLOISTER  AT  NAPLES  9 

the  same  knife,  their  bodies  quartered,  and  distributed 
along  the  road  to  Calabria.^  Plague,  famine,  earth- 
quake, the  Turks,  and  the  Brigands,  under  "  King " 
Marconi,  swelled  the  wave  of  disaster  that  had  come 
upon  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  Little  wonder  then  that 
one  whose  aim  was  a  life  of  learning  should  seek  it 
under  the  mantle  of  the  strong  Dominican  order. 

The  cloister  stood  above   Naples,   amidst  beautiful  The 
gardens,    and    had    been    the    home    of    St.    Thomas  ^^°"^"* 
Aquinas,  whose  gentle  spirit  still   breathed  within  its 
walls.     In  its  church,  amid  the  masterpieces  of  Giovanni 
Merliano  of  Nola,  "  the  Buonarotti  of  Naples,"  stood 
the  image  of  Christ  which  had  spoken  with  the  Angelic 
Doctor,  and  had  approved  his  works.     Long  afterwards, 
at  his  trial,  Bruno  spoke  of  having  the  works  of  St. 
Thomas  always  by  him,  "  continually  readings  studying 
_andre-studying  them,  and  holding  them  dear."      On  his 
entry  into  the  order,  Bruno  laid  down,  as  was  customary, 
the  name  Filippo,  and  took  that  of  Giordano,  by  which, 
except  for  a  short  period,  he  was  thenceforth  known. 
After   his  year*s  probation   he  took   the   vows  before 
Ambrosio  Pasqua,  the  Prior,  and  in  due  course,  pro- 
bably about  1572,  became  priest,  his  first  mass  being  1572. 
said  in  Campagna.^ 

It  was  the  age  of  the  counter-reformation  which  had  Processes 
been   inaugurated    by   Loyola,    its   course   set   by   thel  ^°' ^"'''^* 
decision  of  the  Council  of  Trent  **  to  erase  with  fire 
and  sword  the  least  traces  of  heresy,"  and  Bruno  earlv 
began  to  feel  his  fetters,  and  to  suffer  from  their  weight. 
During  his  noviciate  even,  a  writing  had  been  drawn  ud 
against  him,  because  he  had  given  away  some  images  ot' 
the  saints,  retaining  for  himself  only  a  crucifix,  and 
again  because  he  had  advised  a  fellow-novice,  who  was 

1  Cf.  Spaccio  de  la  Bestta,  Lag.  p.  552,  i.  2  Venetian  Documents,  No.  8. 


Mull 


/ 


\ 


; '( 


il :f| 


i( 


1576. 


Rome. 


Noli. 


10 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


reading  The  Seven  Delights  of  she  Madonna  to  throw 
it  aside  and  take  rather  The  Lives  of  the  Fathers  or 
some  such  book.  But  the  writing  was  merely  intended 
to  terrify  him,  and  the  same  day  was  torn  up  by  the 
Prior.^  In  1576,  however,  the  suspicions  of  his 
superiors  took  a  more  active  turn,  and  a  process  was 
instituted  in  which  the  matter  of  the  noviciate  was 
supported  by  charges  of  later  date,  of  which  Bruno 
never  learned  the  details.  He  believed  the  chief  count 
was  an  apology  for  the  Arian  heresy  made  by  him  in 
the  course  of  a  private  conversation,  and  rather  on  the 
ground  of  its  scholastically  correct  form  than  on  that  of 
its  truth.^  In  any  case  Bruno  left  Naples  while  the 
process  was  pending,  and  came  to  Rome,  where  he  put 
up  in  the  cloister  of  Minerva.  His  accusers  did  not 
leave  him  in  peace,  however :  a  third  process  was 
threatened  at  Rome  with  1 30  articles  ;  *  and,  on  learn- 
ing from  a  friendly  source  that  some  works  of  St. 
Chrysostom  and  St.  Hieronymus,  with  a  commentary 
of  the  arch-heretic  Erasmus,  had  been  discovered — he 
had,  as  he  supposed,  safely  disposed  of  them  before 
leaving  Naples, — Bruno  yielded  to  discretion,  abandoned 
his  monkly  habit,  and  escaped  from  Rome.  From  this 
time  began  a  life  of  restless  wandering  throughout 
Europe  which  ended  only  after  sixteen  years,  when  he 
fell  into  the  power  of  the  Inquisition  at  Venice. 

Ill 

Bruno,  who  resumed  for  the  time  his  baptismal 
name  of  Filippo,  journeyed  first  to  the  picturesque  little 
town  of  Noli,  in  the  Gulf  of  Genoa,  whither  a  more 
famous  exile,  Dante,  had  also  come.     There  he  lived  for 

*  Docs.  8  and  13.  •  Vtdc  additional  note.  *  Doc.  i  (Berti,  p.  378). 


I 


EARLY  WORKS 


II 


four  or  five  months,  teaching  grammar  to  boys,  and  1576? 
"the  Sphere" — that  is,  astronomy  and  cosmography, 
with   a  dash  of  metaphysics,— to  certain   gentlemen. 
Thence  he  came  to  Savona,  to  Turin,^  and  to  Venice.^)  ^^^°"^*- 
In    Venice   six   weeks   were    spent,   probably   in    thejvent 
vain  attempt  to  find  work— the  printing   offices   and 
the   schools   were   closed   on    account    of    the   plague 
which  was  carrying  off  thousands  of  the  inhabitants ; 
but    the   time   was   utilised   in   printing    the   first    of 
his  books— no  longer   extant— on   the    Signs   of  the 
Times;'  written,  like  so  many   other   works   of  other 
people,  to  put  together  a  few  ^*danari."     It  was  shown 
to  a  reverend  Father  Remigio  of  Florence,   therefore 
was  probably  orthodox,  or  its  unorthodoxy  was  veiled. 
This  work  may  have  been  the  first  of  Bruno's  writings 
on  the  art  of  memory  or  on  Lully's  art  of  knowing. 
Another  work  belonging  to  this  eariy  period  was  the 
Ark  of  Noah,      It  was  probably  written  before  he  left 
Naples,  and  was  dedicated  to  Pope  Pius  V.,  but  is  not 
known  to  have  been  published  :    its  title  is  that  of  a 
mystical  writing  of  Hugo  of  St.  Victor,  but  according 
to  the  account  in  the  Cena,'  it  was  an  allegorical  and 
probably  satirical  work,  somewhat  after  the  fashion  of 
Bruno's  Cabala  ;— The  animals  had  assembled  to  settle  a 
disputed  question  of  rank,  and  the  ass  was  in  great  danger 
of  losmg  his  pre-eminent  post,— in  the  poop  of  the  Ark, 
—because  his  power  lay  in  hoofs  rather  than  in  horns  \ 
when  we  consider  Bruno's  frequent  and  bitter  invoca- 
tions of  Asinity,  we  can  hardly  avoid  seeing  in  the ' 
work  an  allusion  to  the  credulity  and  ignorance  of  the 
monkhood. 


I 


^  J  Jasso  came  about  the  ,ame  time,  to  be  repulsed  as  plague-stricken  from  the 

\  po<^-  9.     Berti,  p.  393  (a  line  is  omitted  in  the  2nd  Edition). 
*  Lag.  147.  21.  ' 


lfiMm^"di,    f  ^^'' 


'/) 


X  \} 


12 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


ill 


■^ 


Padua.  "  From  Venice,"  ^  Bruno  tells  us,  "  I  went  to  Padua, 

where  I  found  some  fathers  of  the  order  of  St.  Dominic, 
whom  I  knew  ;  they  persuaded  me  to  resume  the  habit, 
even  though  I  should  not  wish  to  return  to  the  order, 
as  it  was  more  convenient  for  travel :  with  this  idea  I 
went  to  Bergamo,  and  had  a  robe  made  of  cheap  white 
cloth,  placing  over  it  the  scapular  which  I  kept  when 
I  left  Rome."     On  his  way  to  Bergamo  he  seems  to 

Brescia.  have  touched  at  Brescia  and  Milan,  at  the  former 
place  curing,  "with  vinegar  and  polypod,"  a  monk 
who  claimed   to   have  the   spirit  of  prophecy.^      At 

Milan.       Milan  he  first  heard  of  his  future  patron  and  friend, 

Bergamo.    Sir   Philip  Sidney.®     From   Bergamo   he  was   making 

chambery.  for  Lyons,  but  at  Chambery  was  warned  that  he  would 
meet  with  litde  sympathy  there,  and  turned  accordingly 

Geneva,  towards  Geneva,  the  home  of  exiled  reformers  of  all 
nationalities,  but  especially  of  Italians.  It  is  uncertain 
how  the  time  was  distributed  among  these  places,- 
possibly  Bruno  spent  a  winter,  as  Berti  suggests, 
at  Chambery,  having  crossed  the  Alps  the  previous 
autumn  ; — what  is  certain  is,  that  he  arrived  at  Geneva 

May  1579.  in  April  or  May  of  1579.  Under  the  date  May  22, 
of  that  year,  in  the  book  of  the  Rector  of  the  Academy 
at  Geneva,  is  inscribed  the  name  Philippus  BrunuSy 
in  his  own  hand.  On  his  arrival  at  the  hostelry  in 
Geneva,  he  was  called  upon  by  a  distinguished  exile 
and  reformer,  the  Marquis  of  Vico,  a  Neapolitan. 
To  the  court  at  Venice,  Bruno  gave  the  following 
account  of  this  visit  and  of  his  life  in  Geneva  : — "  He 
asked  me  who  I  was,  and  whether  I  had  come  to  stay 
there  and  to  profess  the  religion  of  the  city,  to  which, 

^  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi  was  at  this  time  teaching  philosophy  in  one  of  the  monasteries 
in  Venice,  but  Bnmo  does  not  seem  to  have  met  him. 

*  Sig,  Sig.  {Op,  Lot,  ii.  2.  191). 

*  Cena^  Lag.  143.  40. 


I       GENEVA:  RELIGION  AND  LIBERTY     13 

after  I  had  given  an  account  of  myself  and  of  my 
reasons  for  abandoning  the  Order,  I  said  that  I  had 
no  intention  of  professing  the  religion  of  the  city, 
not  knowing  what  it  was,  and  that  therefore  I  wished 
rather  to  remain  living  in  freedom  and  security,  than 
in  any  other  manner.  I  was  persuaded,  in  any  case, 
to  lay  aside  the  habit  I  wore ;  so  I  had  made  for 
myself  from  the  cloth  a  pair  of  trews  and  other 
things,  while  the  Marquis  himself,  with  other  Italians, 
gave  me  a  sword,  hat,  cape,  and  other  necessaries  of 
clothing,  and  enabled  me  to  support  myself  so  far  by 
correcting  proofs.  I  stayed  about  two  months,  and 
attended  at  times  the  preachings  and  discussions,  both 
of  Italians  and  Frenchmen  who  lectured  and  preached 
in  the  city ;  among  others,  I  heard  several  times 
Nicolo  Balbani  of  Lucca,  who  read  on  the  epistles 
of  St.  Paul,  and  preached  the  Gospels ;  but  having 
been  told  that  I  could  not  remain  there  long  if  I 
did  not  make  up  my  mind  to  adopt  the  religion  of  Did  Bruno 
the  city,  for  if  not  I  should  receive  no  assistance,  I  ti^^'j^P^" 
resolved  to  leave."  ^  When  the  inscription  of  Bruno's 
name  in  the  book  of  the  Rector  of  the  Academy  was 
found,  a  doubt  appeared  to  be  thrown  upon  the  truth 
or  frankness  of  this  evidence  about  himself.  The 
regulations  of  1559  had  made  it  necessary  for  intend- 
ing members  to  accept  and  sign  the  Calvinist  confession 
of  faith  ;  but  from  1576  onward,  it  was  only  required 
that  they  should  belong  to  the  community,  a  condition 
Bruno  fulfilled  by  attending  the  ministrations  of  Nicolo 
Balbani  at  the  Italian  Church ;  this  would  account 
also  for  his  name  being  in  the  list  of  the  Protestant 
refugees.  The  real  cause  of  his  departure  from 
Geneva  has,  however,  been  revealed  by  the  documents 

^  Doc.  9. 


B&fiJli 


li 


r<  *• 


\l 


H 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


I  which    Dufour    published   in    1884.^       ^^   Thursday 
I  August     6,     1579,     "one     Philippe    Jordan     called 

Freedom  of  Brunus,  an  Italian,"  was  brought  before  the  G>uncil, 
for    having   "caused    to    be    printed    certain    replies 

De  la  Faye.  and    invectives    against    M.    de    la    Faye,    enumerat- 
ing  twenty  errors  made   by  the  latter   in  one  of  his 
lectures."     De  la  Faye  was  then  Professor  of  Philosophy 
in  the  Academy,  of  which  in  1580  he  became  Rector, 
resigning   that   post   for   the   theological  chair   a   few 
years  later.     His  one  title  to  fame  is,  that  he  was  the 
biographer  of  Beza,  and  he  was  in  no  sense  a  strong 
man  ;    all  the  more  bitter  and   intense  was  his  anger 
at  the  intruding  Italian  who  criticised  his  views,  and — 
a  far  graver  crime — disparaged   his  learning.     Bruno, 
heard  before  a  body  of  councillors,  and  having  confessed 
his  fault,  was  to  be  set  free  on  giving  thanks  to  God 
and  an  apology  to  M.  de  la  Faye,  admitting  his  fault 
before   the   Consistory    (the   governing    body    of  the 
Church   in   Geneva),  and   tearing   up  the  defamatory 
libel.^      But    when    he    did    appear,    on    August    13, 
the  philosopher  adopted  a  different  tone  : — "  Philippe 
Brun    appeared    before    the    Consistory  —  to     admit 
his   fault,   in    so   far    as    he    had    erred    in    doctrine, 
and   called   the   ministers   of  the  Church   of  Geneva 
^pedagogues,'  asserting   that   he  neither  would   excuse 
nor  condemn   himself  in   that,  for   it   had   not   been 
reported    truly,    although    he    understood    that    one, 
Anthony    de    la    Faye,    had    made    such    a    report. 
Inquired  whom  he  had  called  pedagogues,  he  replied 
with   many  excuses  and  assertions   that   he  had   been 
persecuted,  making   many   conjectures   and   numerous 
other  accusations."     Finally,  '4t  was  decided  that 

^  Giordano  Bruno  a  Geneve  (1579),  par  Thcophil  Dufour :  v,  Berti,  pp.  449  ff. 

*  From  the  Register  of  the  Council. 


BRUNO  BEFORE  CONSISTORY 


15 


he  be  duly  admonished,  that  he  have  to  admit  his 
fault,  and  that,  should  he  refuse  to  do  so,  he  be 
forbidden  communion,  and  sent  back  again  to  the 
Council,  who  are  prayed  not  to  endure  such  a  person, 
a  disturber  of  the  school ;  and  in  the  meantime  he 
shall  have  to  admit  his  fault.  He  replied  that  he 
repented  of  having  committed  the  fault,  for  which 
he  would  make  amends  by  a  better  conversation, 
and  further  confessed  that  he  had  uttered  calumny 
against  De  la  Faye.  The  admonitions  and  exclusions 
from  the  communion  were  carried  out,  and  he  was 
sent  back  with  admonitions."  ^  Apparently  these  steps 
were  effective  ;  the  required  apology  was  made,  and 
on  August  27  Bruno  was  absolved  from  the  form 
of  excommunication  passed  upon  him.  No  doubt, 
however,  life  in  Geneva  was  made  less  easy  for  him, 
and  he  left  soon  after.  The  sentence  of  excommunica- 
tion passed  by  the  Consistory — the  only  one  within 
its  power — does  not  prove  that  Bruno  was  a  full 
member  of  the  Protestant  community,  nor  that  he 
partook  of  the  communion,  which  at  his  trial  in 
Venice  he  absolutely  denied  ever  having  done  ;  but 
formal  excommunication  must  have  entailed  many  un- 
pleasantnesses, so  that  his  appeal  for  remission  is 
quite  comprehensible.  His  unfortunate  experiences  in 
Geneva  account,  however,  for  the  extreme  dislike  of 
Calvinism  which  his  writings  express.  Of  the  two 
reformed  schools,  Lutheranism  was  bv  far  the  more 
tolerant,  and  gavejiim,jater,  the  more  cordial  welcome. 
Calvin,  we  must  remember,  whose  spirit  continued 
in  Theodore  Beza,  had  written  a  pamphlet  on  Servetus, 
a  "  faithful  exposition  of  the  errors  of  Michael  Servetus, 
a  short  refutation  of  the  same,  in  which  it  is  shown  to 

*  Register  of  Consistory,  1577-1579. 


Mmimn 


mmmm 


f 


11 


Lyons. 
Toulouse. 


1579-81. 


I 


Ml 


16 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


be  lawful  to  coerce  heretics  by  the  sword."  It  was 
more  probably,  however,  Bruno's  attitude  towards  the 

I  Aristotelian  philosophy  which  brought  him  into  conflict 
with  the  authorities  :  Geneva  was  as  thoroughly  con- 
vinced of  the  all-wisdom  of  Aristotle  as  Rome.^  Beza 
had  written  to  Ramus  that  they  had  decided  once 
for  all,  ne  tantillum  ab  Aristotelis  senientid  deflectere^ 
and  Arminius,  when  a  youth  of  twenty-two,  was 
expelled  from  Geneva  for  teaching  the  Dialectic  of 
Ramus. 

IV 

After  a  short  stay  in  Lyons,  where  *^  he  could  not 
make  enough  to  keep   him  alive,"   Bruno  passed  to 
Toulouse,   which   boasted   then  of  one   of  the  most 
flourishing  universities  in  the  world.     In  his  account 
of  his  life  before  Venetian  tribunal,  he  gives  two  years 
and  a  half  to  Toulouse,  but  he  must  have  left  it  before 
the  end  of  1581,  so  that  his  actual  stay  was  only  two 
years.     While  he  was  holding  private  classes  on  the 
Sphere,  and  other  philosophical  subjects,  a  chair  at  the 
University    fell    vacant.      Bruno    was    persuaded    to 
become  a  candidate ;  to  that  end  he  took  a  Doctorate 
(in  Theology),  and  was  allowed  to  compete.     By  the 
free  election  of  the  students,  as  the  custom  was,  he  was 
chosen  for  the  chair,  and   thereafter  for  two  sessions 
lectured  on  Aristotle's  Be  Anima  and  on  other  matters. 
Part  of  these  lectures  is  perhaps  given  to  us  in  the 
works  published  afterwards  at  Paris.     It  was  fortunate 
that  the  University  did  not  require  of  its  ordinary 
professors  that  they  should  attend  mass,  as  was  the  case, 
for  example,  at  the  Sorbonne.     Bruno  could  not  have 

*  Bartholmess,  i.  pp.  62,  63  (with  note). 


? 


I  TOULOUSE  (1579-81)  17 

done  so  owing  to  his  excommunication,  but  that  he 
was  unconscious  of  any  want  of  sympathy  towards  the 
Catholic  Church  is  shown  by  his  visit  in  Toulouse  to 
the  confessional  of  a  Jesuit. 

The  city  was  not  generally  favourable  to  heretics,  and 
in  I  ^6  Lucilio  Vanini  was  bumt-thepe  for  his  opinions. 
A  cancelled  phrase  in  the  evidence  suggests  that  Bruno's 
departure  from  Toulouse  was  owing  to  disputes  and} 
difficulties  regarding  his  doctrine,  but  his  alleged  reason 
was  the  civil  war  that  was  then  raging  in  the  south  of 
France,  with  Henry_o£  Navarre  in  the  field.  While  at 
Toulouse,  Bruno  seems  to  have  completed  a  work  in 
more  than  one  volume,  the  Clavis  Magna,  or  "  Great 
Key,"  a  general,  and  as  Bruno  thought,  a  final  text- 
book on  the  art  of  memory :—'« All  the  ideas  of 
the  older  writers  on  this  subject  (so  far  as  we  are  able 
to  make  out  from  the  books  that  have  come  to  our 
hands),  their  doctrines  and  methods,  have  their  fitting 
place  in  our  invention,  which  is  a  superlatively  pregnant 
one,  and  has  appropriated  to  it  the  book  of  the  Great 
Key."^  One  volume  only,  it  appears,  was  published  by 
Bruno,  and  that  in  England,  the  Sigillus  Sigillorum. 

To  Paris  Bruno  came  about  the  close  of  i  j[8i,  and 
almost  at  once  sprang  into  fame.  A  course  of  thirty 
lectures  on  "  The  thirty  divine  attributes  "  (as  given  by 
Thomas  Aquinas)  brought  him  the  ofl^er  of  an  ordinary 
professorship,  but  this  he  could  not  take,  being  unable 
to  attend  mass.  However,  his  fame  reached  the  ears 
of  the  king,  Henry  the  Third,  who  summoned  him  to 
his  presence,  to  know  among  other  things  "  whether  the 
memory  Bruno  had,  and  the  art  of  memory  he  professed, 
were  natural  or  due  to  magic."  Bruno  proved  to  him' 
that  a  powerful  memory  was  a  naUiral  product,  and 

»  Vide  De  Umbrit  {Op.  Lat.  ii.  i.  p.  65,  cf.  p.  87). 


i8 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Art 
Memorue, 

Circu^i. 


dedicated  to  him  a  book  on  the  Art  of  Memory. 
\Hem-y  III.  was  the  son  of  an  Italian  mother,  and  had 
a  keen,  if  uncritical  and  dilettante,  love  of  learning. 
At  the  time  Bruno  arrived  in  Paris  philosophy  was  one 
lof  the  king's  chief  hobbies,  and  the  fact  had  a  great 
Works pui>.[  influence  on  Bruno's  future.  During  his  stay  in  Paris 
Parii.*"  1  Bruno  published  several  works,  of  which  the  first 
£>ct/i«*rii.j perhaps  was  the  "Shadows  of  Ideas"  {Be  Umbris 
Idiarum\  1582,  dedicated  to  Henry  III.,  along  with 
which,  but  without  a  separate  frontispiece,  was  the 
Art  of  Memory  {Ars  Memorise  Jordani  Brunt)  ;  there 
followed  "The  Incantation  of  Circe"  {Cant us  Cirdeus)^ 
1582,  dedicated  to  Prince  Henry  of  Angouleme,  and 
edited  by  Regnault.  The  De  Umbris  gives  the 
metaphysical  basis  of  the  art  of  memory,  the  Ars 
Memorise  a  psychological  analysis  of  the  faculty,  and 
an  account  of  the  theory  of  the  art  itself,  while  the 
Cantus  Circaus  offers  first  a  practical  application,  and 
secondly  a  more  elementary  account  of  the  theory  and 
practice  of  the  system.  Obscurity  was,  in  those  days 
of  pedantry,  one  of  the  safest  ways  of  securing  a 
hearing  :  there  is  nothing  of  value  in  Bruno's  art  except 
the  philosophy  by  which  he  sought  to  support  it — a 
renovated  Neoplatonism.  It  has  been  pointed  out, 
however,  "that  the  art  was  a  convenient  means  of 
introducing  Bruno  to  strange  universities,  gaining  him 
favour  with  the  great,  or  helping  him  out  of  pressing 
money  troubles.  It  was  his  exoteric  philosophy  with 
which  he  could  carefully  drape  his  philosophy  of  religion 
hostile  to  the  Church,  and  ride  as  a  hobby  horse  in  his 
unfruitful  humours."^  There  can  be  no  question  of 
Bruno's  own  belief  in  it ;  it  was  not,  for  example,  a 
cipher  language  by  which  he  covered  his  real  thoughts  : 

^  Brunnhofer's  Giordano  Bruno^  etc.,  p.  25. 


THE  "CANDELAIO" 


19 


the  Copernican  theory  is  not,  as  Berti  says,  absent  from 
the  Parisian  writings,  rather  it  is  forced  obtrusively  into 
them.^ 

In   Paris   was   published   also   the   "  Compendious  De  Cm- 
Architecture"  {De  Compendiosd  Architecturd  et  C(?i»- 5^°;^^. 
plemento   Artis   Lullii)^    1582,    dedicated   to   Giovanni '«^''>'^- 
Moro,  the  Venetian   Ambassador  in  Paris.     It  is  the 
earliest  of  the  Lullian  works  in  which  Bruno  expounds 
or  comments  upon  the  art  of  Raymond  LuUy,  a  logical 
calculus  and  mnemonic  scheme  in  one,  that  attracted 
many  imitators  up  to  and  after  Bruno's  time.     In  the 
same  year  appeared  a  work  of  a  very  different  stamp,  // 
Candelaio,  or  "  The  Torchbearer,"  "  a  comedy  by  Bruno  iiCandeUh. 
of  Nola,  Academico  di  nulla  academia^  detto  il  fastidito  : 
In  tristitia   hilaris^  hilaritate   tristis.'*      It  is  a  satire 
upon  some  of  the  chief  vices  of  the  age — in  the  fore- 
front pedantry,  superstition,  and  sordid  love.    Without 
great  dramatic  power — the  characters  are  personified 
types,  not  individuals — it  has  been  judged  to  be  second 
to  none  of  the  comedies  of  the  time,  in  spirit,  wit,  and 
pert  comedy.     It  certainly  excels  in  many  respects  the 
Cortegiana  of  Aretino,  to  which  it  is  similar  in  character. 
It  is  equally  realistic  in  the  sense  that  it  "  calls  a  spade 
a  spade,"  and  does  not  shrink  from  representing  vice 
as  speaking  in  its  own  language.     Bruno  is  not,  how- 
ever,   to  be  blamed    for  an  obscenity  which    was   de 
rigueur  in  the  literature  of  the  time.     But  although 
the  humour  is  broad  and  occasionally  amusing,  there  is 
no  grace,   no  lighter  touch  ;  the  picture  is  all  dark. 
The  attack  upon  the  pedant,  however,  strikes  a  key- 
note of  Bruno's  life  ;  in  him  he  saw  the  greatest  enemy 
his  teaching  had  to  face,  and  therefore  he  struck  at  him 
whenever  the  opportunity  ofl^ered. 

*  Introd.  to  De  Umbris. 


i 


20 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


The  Uni 
¥crsity. 


Owing  perhaps  to  some  of  these  works,  Bruno  was 

granted  an  Extraordinary  Readership  at  the  university. 

There  were,  however,  two  universities  in  Paris,  and  it 

is  uncertain  at  which  Bruno  taught :   they  were  the 

Sorbonne,  catholic  and  conservative,  the  censorship  of 

which  must  have  passed  his  Parisian  works,  and  the 

College  of  France — ^following  the  liberal  policy  of  its 

founder,  Francis  II.,  declaring  war  against  pedantry  in 

general,  and  the  Jesuit  Society  in  particular.*     As  has 

been  said,  Bruno  was  at  this  time  eager  to  be  taken 

back  into  the  fold  of  the  Church,  and  turned  to  the 

Jesuits  for  assistance,  so  that  the  latter  college  could 

hardly  have  been  his  habitation ;   on  the  other  hand, 

his  revolutionary  teaching  could  not  fail  in  the  end  to 

excite  the  indignation  of  the  Sorbonne  pupils  :  Aristotle 

was,  here  as  elsewhere,  "divine."     Yet  when   Bruno 

returned  to  Paris  in  1585,  and  when  he  was  on  the 

eve  of  a  second  departure,  he  recalled  with  pleasure 

the  humanity  and  kindness  shown  to  him   by  rectors 

and  professors  on  his  first  visit.     They  had  honoured 

him  by  "  the  continued  presence  of  the  more  learned 

at  his  lectures  both   public  and   private,  so  that  any 

title  rather  than  that  of  stranger  was   befitting   him 

with  this  kindly  parent  of  letters."  ^    And   Nostitz, 

one  of  Bruno's  pupils,  remembered  with  admiration, 

thirty-three  years  later,  the  skill  and  versatility  of  his 

teacher  :   "  He  was  able  to   discourse   impromptu  on 

any   subject  suggested,  to  speak  without   preparation 

extensively    and    eloquentiy,   and    he   attracted   many 

pupils  and  admirers  in  Paris."  * 

'  Bartholmess,  i.  74. 

•  y'tdt  Acrot.  Camoer.    Epistle  to  the  Rector  of  the  University  (Filesac).    0/>.  Lot, 
».  1.  S^f  57- 

'  Arti/cium  Arist.  Lull.  Ram.  1615. 


I 


I        BRUNO  LEAVES  PARIS:  ENGLAND      21 

But  Bruno's  evil  genius  would  not  allow  him  rest ; 
whether  on  account,  as  he  himself  says,  of  "  tumults," 
— which  may  mean  either  the  civil  war  ^  or  an  active 
resistance  to  his  own  teaching  on  the  part  of  the  youth 
of  Paris, — or  because  of  the  attraction  of  a  less  bigoted 
country,  he  was  drawn  in  1583  to  exchange  Paris 
for  London. 


England  under  Elizabeth  was  renowned  for  its  (England, 
tolerance  ;  all  manner  of  religious  refugees  found  there  af  ^^^* 
place  of  safety  :  to  Italians  its  welcome  was  particularly 
cordial,  their  language  was  the  favoured  one  of  the 
court,  and  Elizabeth  herself  eagerly  saw  and  spoke 
with  them  in  their  own  tongue.  Florio — an  Italian  in 
spite  of  having  had  London  for  his  birthplace,  the 
friepd  of  Shakespeare,  of  Spenser  and  Ben  Jonson — 
was  constantly  at  court ;  two  of  Elizabeth's  physicians 
were  Italian,  as  were  several  of  the  teachers  of  the 
universities.  Perhaps  the  happiest  days  of  Bruno's 
troubled  life  were  spent  here ;  he  had  access  to  the 
most  brilliant  literary  society  of  the  time  ;  he  was  able 
to  speak,  write,  and  publish  in  his  own  tongue,  and  in 
consequence  gave  all  the  most  polished  and  brilliant 
of  his  works  to  the  world  during  this  period. 

In  April,  May,  and  June  of  1583  Bruno  was  in 
Oxford,  although  the  university  and  college  records 
make  no  mention  of  his  name.  He  must  have  known 
it  as  a  stronghold  of  Aristotelianism  ;  on  its  statutes  ThcUni- 
stood  '*  that  Bachelors  and  Masters  who  did  not  follow  ArisStie? 
Aristotie  faithfully  were  liable  to  a  fine  of  five  shillings 
for   every   point   of  divergence,  and   for   every   fault 

Cf.  Orat.  Cansol.  (i.  i.  32). 


Oxford, 
1583. 


? 


22 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


committed  against  the  Logic  of  the  Organon  " ;  and  that 
this  was  no  dead  law  had  been  proved  a  few  years 
before  when  one  Barebones  was  degraded  and  expelled 
because  of  an  attack  on  Aristotle  from  the  standpoint 
of  Ramus.     The  only  living  subject  of  teaching  was 
theology,  there  was  no  real  science,  and  no  real  scholar- 
ship.     This  peaceful   school  was  not    likely    to    be 
gratified  by  the  letter  which  Bruno  wrote  asking  per- 
mission to  lecture  at   Oxford ;   it   is   printed   in   the 
ExplkaHo  Triginta  Sigillorum:^  "To  the  most  excellent 
the  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  its 
most  famous  Doctors  and  celebrated  Masters — Saluta- 
tion from  Philotheus  Jordanus  Brunus  of  Nola,  Doctor 
of  a  more  scientific  theology,  professor  of  a  purer  and 
less  harmful  learning,  known  in  the  chief  universities 
of  Europe,  a  philosopher  approved  and   honourably 
received,  a  stranger  with  none  but  the  uncivilised  and 
ignoble,  a  wakener  of  sleeping  minds,  tamer  of  presump- 
tuous   and    obstinate   ignorance,   who  in   all   respects 
professes  a  general   love  of  man,  and   cares  not  for 
the  Italian  more  than  for  the  Briton,  male  more  than 
female,  the  mitre  more  than  the  crown,  the  toga  more 
than  the  coat  of  mail,  the  cowled  more  than  the  un- 
cowled ;  but  loves  him  who  in  intercourse  is  the  more 
peaceable,  polite,  friendly  and  useful — (Brunus)  whom 
only  propagators  of  folly  and  hypocrites  detest,  whom 
the  honourable  and  studious  love,  whom  noble  minds 
applaud."     The  epistle  which  so  begins  is  the  preface 
to  a  work  on  the  art  of  discovering,  arranging,  and 
remembering   facts   of   knowledge,    by   which    Bruno 
hoped    to  commend   himself    to   the  English,   as   he 
had  succeeded  in  commending  himself  to  the  French 
universities.      He  attempted   to   disarm   prejudice   by 

*  op,  Lat,  ii.  2.  pp.  76-8. 


ALASCO  IN  OXFORD 


^3 


sheltering  under  the  twofold  truth — "  if  this  writing 
appears  to  conflict  with  the  common  and  approved 
faith,  understand  that  it  is  put  forward  by  me  not  as 
absolutely  true^  but  as  more  consonant  with  our  senses 
and  our  reason,  or  at  least  less  dissonant  than  the  other 
side  of  the  antithesis.  And  remember,  that  we  are  not 
so  much  eager  to  show  our  own  knowledge,  as  moved 
by  the  desire  of  showing  the  weakness  of  the  common 
philosophy,  which  thrusts  forward  what  is  mere  opinion 
as  if  demonstratively  proved,  and  of  making  it  clear  by 
our  discussion  (if  the  gods  grant  it)  how  much  in 
harmony  with  regulated  sense,  in  consonance  with  the 
truth  of  the  substance  of  things,  is  that  which  the 
garrulous  multitude  of  plebeian  philosophers  ridicule  as 
foreign  to  sense." 

He  was  coldly  received,  however ;  in  common-^ 
sense  England  his  new  art  could  evoke  no  enthusiasm, 
and  his  real  and  vital  doctrines  met  with  nothing  but 
opposition  at  the  old  university — "  the  widow  of  true 
science,"  Bruno  calls  it.  From  the  loth  to  the  13th  Aiascoof 
June  the  Polish  prince,  Alasco,  was  in  Oxford,  and 
disputations  were  held  in  his  honour  as  well  as  banquets. 
Among  others,  Bruno  disputed  publicly  in  presence  of 
the  prince  and  some  of  the  English  nobility.^  Alasco . 
appears  to  have  caused  some  excitement  to  the 
Elizabethan  court.  According  to  Mr.  Faunt  (of  the 
secretary's  office)  he  had  been  General  in  more  than 
forty  fought  battles,  spoke  Latin  and  Italian  well,  and 
was  of  great  revenues.  Mauvissiere  grumbled  in  a 
letter  to  the  French  king,  that  the  Palatine  Lasque  and 
a  Scottish  ambassador  seemed  to  be  governing  the 
court.^  The  real  object  of  the  visit  was  apparently 
political,  to  prevent  the  traffic  in  arms  between  England 


'm 


x\ 


^  C«M,  L.  176,  37  ff. 


*  Teulet  Papers,  ii.  p.  570  (May  16,  1583). 


iv 


2'^ 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


and   Muscovy.*      Whether   Alasco   succeeded   in   this 
design  or  not,  he  seems  to  have  found  life  in  England 
too  hst  for  his  purse— "A  learned  man  of  graceful 
%ure,    with    a    very  long    beard,   in    decorous    and 
beautiful  attire,  who  was  received  kindly  by  the  Queen, 
with  great  honour  and  praise  by  the  nobles,  by  the 
university  of  Oxford  with  erudite  delectations  (o/^lecta- 
iionibus)  and  varied  spectacles  ;  but  after  four  months, 
being  harassed  for  debt,  he  withdrew  secretly."  *     The 
arrival  of  this  tragic-comic  figure  in  Oxford  appears  to 
have  gratified  the  city  and  university ;    he  was  most 
hospitably  received,  and  put  up  at  Christ  Church.     On 
the  following  day  there  was  a  dinner  at  All  Souls, 
at  which  "he  was  solemnlie  satisfied  with  scholarlie 
exercises  and  courtlie  fare."     That  evening  was  per- 
formed a  "  pleasant  comedie,"  the  Rivales,  and  on  the 
following  night  a  "  statelie  tragedie,"  Dido,^  and  there 
were  in  the  intervals  shows,  disputations  in  philosophy, 
physics,   and   divinity,  in   all   of  which,  we  are  glad 
to    know,    "these    learned     opponents,    respondents, 
and  moderators,  acquitted  themselves  like  themselves, 
sharplie  and  soundlic."     Let  us  hope  that  Bruno  too' 

mtn'"**"  T^""  ^^'^  P^^  "^  <>««  of  these  disputations,  made  this 
impression.  According  to  his  own  account  the  pro- 
tagonist put  forward  by  the  university  could  not  reply 
to  one  of  his  arguments,  and  was  left  fifteen  times  by 
as  many  syllogisms,  "like  a  hen  in  the  stubble," 
resorting  accordingly  to  mcivility  and  abuse,  in  face  of 
the  patience  and  humanity  of  the  Neapolitan  "  reared 
under  a  kinder  sky."  The  result  was  unfortunate  for 
Bruno  ;  it  put  an  end  to  the  public  lectures,  which  he 

\  <¥•  ">.,  p.  693.  s  Camden's  Elmabeth, 

the  library  of  Christ  Church. 


IMPRESSIONS  OF  OXFORD 


25 


i 


was  giving  at  the  time,  on  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul 
and  on  the  "  Five-fold  Sphere."  The  same  month  he 
returned  to  London,  and  shortly  after  published  the 
Cena  (Ash- Wednesday  Supper),  in  which  he  ridiculed  The  Um. 
the  Oxford  Doctors.  Inter  alia^  he  thought  they  knew  I 
a  good  deal  more  of  beer  than  of  Greek.^  The  impres- 
sion this  attack  produced  in  his  London  circle  was 
apparently  not  that  which  he  desired,  for  in  the  following 
dialogue,  the  Causa^  he  was  much  more  judicious.^  The  Causa, 
He  admitted  much  in  the  university  that  was  well 
instituted  from  the  beginning  :  "  the  fine  arrangement 
of  studies,  the  gravity  of  the  ceremonies,  careful 
ordering  of  the  exercises,  seemliness  of  the  habits  worn, 
and  many  other  circumstances  that  made  for  the  require- 
ments and  adornment  of  a  university  ;  without  doubt 
every  one  must  admit  it  to  be  the  first  in  Europe,  and 
consequently  in  all  the  world — nay,  more,  "  in  gentle- 
ness of  spirit  and  acuteness  of  mind,  such  as  are  ' 
naturally  brought  out  in  both  parts  of  Britain,  it  equals 
perhaps  the  most  excellent  of  the  universities.  Nor  is 
it  to  be  forgotten  that  before  speculative  philosophy 
was  taught  in  any  other  part  of  Europe  it  flourished 
here,  and  through  its  princes  in  metaphysics  (although 
barbarians  in  speech  and  of  the  profession  of  the  cowl) 
the  splendour  of  one  of  the  noblest  and  rarest  spheres 
of  philosophy,  in  our  times  almost  extinct,  was  diffiised 
to  all  other  academies  in  civilised  countries."  What' 
Bruno  condemned  in  Oxford  was  the  undue  attention 
it  gave  to  language  and  words,  to  the  ability  to  speak 
in  CiceronjiiijJLatin  and  in  eloquent-phrase,  neglecting 
the  realities  of  which  the  words  were  signs.  As  for 
the  knowledge  of  Aristode  and  of  philosophy  generally 
that  was  demanded  for  the  degree  of  Master  or  Doctor, 


*  Lag,  p.  120  ff. 


^  L.  p.  220. 


26 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Bruno  suggests  an  evasion  that  probably  had  its  origin 

in  the  undergraduate  wit  of  the  time.     The  statute 

^rcad  ''nisi  potaverit  efante  Aristotelis,'"  but  there  were 

three  springs  in  the  town,  the  Pons  Arimtelis,  Fans 

PyAagorae,  Pons  Platonis,  and  "as  the  water  for  the 

beer  and  cider  was  taken  from  these  springs,  one  could 

not  be  three  days  in  Oxford  without   imbibing  not 

merely  of  the  spring  of  Aristotle,   but  of  those   of 

Pythagoras  and    of   Plato  as  well."      Doctors   were 

easily  created   and   doctorates  easily   bought.      There 

were  of  course  exceptions,  men  renowned  for  eloquence 

and  doctrine  like  Tobias  Matthew^  and  Culpepper,' 

but  as  a  rule   the   nobility  and  best   men   generally 

refused  to  avail  themselves  of  the  "  honour,"  and  pre- 

ferred  the  substance  of  learning  to  its  shadow. 

yj 

'     It  was  after  his  return  from  Oxford  that  the  pleasant 

Londonjand  busy  life  in   London  literary  society  began the 

jjPeriod  of  Bruno's  greatest  productiveness.  In  the 
Ijouse  of  the  enlightened  and  cultured  Mauvissiere  he 
found,^  for  the  first  time  since  leaving  Nola,  a  home.* 
Bruno's  position  in  London  has  given  rise  to  great 
difference  of  opinion  ;  none  of  the  ordinary  contem- 
porary records  make  mention  of  him,  or  the  slightest 
allusion  to  his  presence  in  England.  At  his  trial  he 
professed  to  have  brought  letters  to  the  French 
Ambassador  from  the  King  of  France,  to  have  stayed 
at  the  house  of  the  former  continuously,  to  have  gone 

>  '546-1628.     Studied  at  Uoiversity  College  i  President  of  St.  John's,  icti-t: 
Dean  of  Christ  Church  (to  1584)5  afterward.  Archbishop  of  York:  -One  of  a 
proper  person  (such  people,  ceteris  far  ibui  and  sometimes  ceteris  imparibus^  were  preferred 
by  the  Queen)  and  an  excellent  preacher  "-(Fuller,  quoted  in  the  Dia,  Nat  Bu^.) 
Warden  of  New,  1573^9  ;  Dean  of  Chichester,  1577.  * 

»  yide  Trig,  %////.  Dedication. 


■S. 


I  RELATION  TO  MAUVISSlfeRE  27 

constantly  to  the  Court  with  the  Ambassador,  and  tdj 
have  known  Elizabeth  ;  and  in  his  works  he  claimsl 
intimacy  with  Sidney  and  Greville.  It  was  consequently 
thought  that  he  moved  in  the  highest  English  society 
of  the  time,  and  from  the  Cena  that  he  belonged  to  a 
literary  coterie,  or  club,  of  which  Sidney,  Greville, 
Dyer,  Temple,  and  others  were  members.  Lagarde, 
believing  Bruno  (but  on  ludicrous  grounds)  ^  to  have 
sprung  from  the  lowest  of  Italian  society,  could  hardly 
accept  this  familiar  legend  of  Bruno-biographies,  and 
more  recently,  the  Giuarterly  Review  has  questioned 
both  the  friendship  with  Sidney  and  Greville,  and  the 
existence  of  the  supposed  Society.  As  to  the  last, 
there  was  certainly  at  one  time  a  literary  society, 
Sidney's  Areopagus^  to  which  Spenser  belonged  in 
1579,  but  which  concerned  itself  chiefly  with  artificial 
rules  of  versification,  and  the  merits  of  various  metres  ; 
the  habit  of  meeting  may  have  very  well  persisted  for  a 
few  years,  after  the  first  flush  of  enthusiasm  had  passed, 
and  the  Ash  Wednesday  supper  may  have  represented 
one  of  these  meetings  to  which  Bruno — the  defender 
of  the  Copernican  theory — may  have  been  invited  as 
Protagonist.  As  for  Bruno's  position,  it  must  have 
been  that  of  a  secretary  or  tutor,  perhaps  both,  in 
Mauvissiere's  employment.  The  French  Ambassador 
was  constantly  in  want  of  funds,  and  could  not  very 
well  afford  to  support  any  casual  stranger  whom  the 
King  of  France  recommended  to  him.  In  November 
1584  he  complained  of  absolute  penury,  of  being 
unable  to  obtain  money  due  to  him  fi-om  the  King  of 
France  (the  King  paid  him  by  occasional  doles  only),  of 
being  hard  pressed  by  London  and  Italian  bankers, 
while  his  wife  was  in  ill  health.     He  was  not  greatly 

^  Vide  add.  note. 


I  I 


I 


28 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


\ 


respected  either  by  the  Court,  who,  with  good  grounds, 
believed  him  to  have  no   influence  with   the   French 
King,   or   by   Mary   of    Scotland    and    the    English 
Catholics,  partly  because  of  his   supposed   Huguenot     i/ 
leanings,  and  partly  because  of  their  distrust  of  Henry 
III,  or  by  the  French  King  himself.     Mauvissiere  had 
been  sent  to  England  as  one  who  could  be  trusted  not 
to  err  by  way  of  undue  zeal.     Henry  had  no  desire  to 
see  the  unfortunate  Queen  of  Scots  liberated,  although 
he  put  out  all  his  diplomatic  power  to  save  her  life ; 
the  status  quo  in  England  suited  his  policy  only  too 
well ;  there  was  no  need  for  active  interference.    It  was 
^  Mary  of  Guise  that  spurred  on  Mauvissiere  to  act  as 
energetically  as  he  did   for   Queen    Mary.     We   may 
assume  then  that  Bruno,  when   Oxford  rejected  him, 
entered  the  French  Embassy  as  an  unofficial  secretary. 
The  words  he  employed  at  the  Venetian  inquiry  quite 
harmonise  with   this   supposition:    "In   his   house   I 
stayed  as  his  gentleman,  nothing  more,"  not  as  friend 
or  guest,   but  as   "^/V  gentleman."^     That  he  went 
constantly  to   Court  with   the  Ambassador,  and  was 
introduced  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  would  be  natural  in  the 
case  of  a  secretary— it  would  be  curious  in  the  case  of  a 
mere  guest,  or  of  any  servant  lower  than  a  secretary. 
Finally,    in    the    Infinito^   the    grateful  remark   that 
Mauvissiere  entertained  Bruno  within  his  family,  "  not 
as  one  who  was  of  service  to  him  (Mauvissiere),  but 
as  one  whom  he  could  serve  on  the  many  occasions 
in  which  aid  was  required  by  the  Nolan,"  obviously 
suggests  that  services  were  rendered  by  Bruno  to  the 
Ambassador.     A  man  who  was  prepared  to  make  a 

'  Doc.  9,  Berta,  p.  305.     «  Ca.tdnuovo,  in  casa  del  qual  non  faceva  altro  se  non 
Che  ttava  per  il  tno  gentilhomo."  , 

*  Preface,  L.  305, 


I' 


I  BRUNO  ON  MAUVISSIERE  29 

living  by  teaching  children  as  readily  as  by  lecturing 
to  students,  by  setting  books  in  print  as  readily  as  by 
writing   them,    was    not    likely   to   be    an    expensive 
secretary,  and  it  must  have  been  pleasant  to  Bruno  to 
escape  from  the   turmoil   of  scholastic  strife  and  its 
bitter  antagonisms  to  the  quiet  haven  of  the  Embassy. 
His  host  was  a  well-meaning,  kindly,  but  unfortunate 
man,    unequal   to   the    great   issues   that   were   being 
decided   around    him.     Although    it   was  a   Catholic 
family,  and  mass   was    frequently   said  in    the  house, 
Bruno's  religious  freedom  was  respected.     He  attended 
neither  mass  nor  any  of  the  preachings,  on  account  of 
his  excommunication.     If  one  may  judge  from  Bruno's 
enthusiasm,  the  wife  and  daughter  of  Mauvissiere  must 
have  been  charming  companions,  the  one  "endowed 
with  no  mean  beauty  of  form,  both  veiling  and  clothing 
the  spirit  within,  and  also  with  the  threefold  blessing 
of  a  discreet  judgment,  a  pleasing  modesty,  and  a  kind 
courtesy,  holding  in  an  indissoluble  tie  the  mind  of  her 
consort,  and  captivating  all  who  come  to  know  her  "  ; 
the  other,  "who  has  scarcely  seen  six  summers,  and 
from  her  speech  you  could  not  tell  whether  she  be  of 
Italy,  of  France,  or  of  England  ;    from  her  musical 
play,    whether    she    is    of    corporeal    or    incorporeal 
substance  ;  from  the   ripe  sweetness  of  her  manners, 
whether  she  is  descended  from  heaven  or  risen  from 
earth."  ^     For  Mauvissiere  himself,  to  whom  the  three 
most  important  of  the  Italian  dialogues  are  dedicated, 
no  words  that  Bruno  can  invent  are  too  high  praise. 
In  the  dedication  of  the   Causa^  after  comparing  his 
persevering  zeal  and  delicate  diplomatic  powers  to  the 
dropping  of  water  upon  hard  stone,  and  his  steadfast 
support  of  Bruno  in  face  of  detractions  of  the  ignorant 

*  Lag.  264,  20. 


•  t 


A 


30 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


I 


i 


Qaetn 

Elizabeth. 


and  the  mercenary,  of  sophists,  hypocrites,  barbarians, 
and  plebeians,  to  the  strength  of  the  rock  against 
seething  waves,  the  philosopher  adds,  "I,  whom  the 
foolish  hate,  the  ignoble  despise,  whom  the  wise  love, 
the  learned  admire,  the  great  honour — I,  for  the  great 
favours  enjoyed  from  you,  food  and  shelter,  freedom, 
safety,  harbourage,  who  through  you  have  escaped  so 
terrible  and  fierce  a  storm,  to  you  consecrate  this 
anchor,  these  shrouds  and  slackened  sails,  this  merchan- 
dise so  dear  to  me,  more  precious  still  to  the  future 
world,  to  the  end  that  through  your  favour  they  may 
not  fall  a  prey  to  the  ocean  of  injustice,  turbulence,  and 
hostility."  The  merchandise  of  which  Bruno  thought 
so  highly  was  the  Dialogue  itself ;  we  must  of  course 
allow  for  the  grandiloquence  of  the  dedications  of 
the  time,  and  of  Bruno's  especially,  but  a  real  gratitude 
shines  through  the  words. 

His  account  of  the  Queen  must  be  taken  much  less 
seriously,  although  his  praise  of  her  formed  one  of  the 
many  counts  against  him  in  Venice.  "That  most 
singular  and  rare  of  ladies,  who  from  this  cold  clime, 
near  to  the  Artie  parallel,  sheds  a  bright  light  upon  all 
the  terrestial  globe.  Elizabeth,  a  Queen  in  title  and  in 
dignity,  inferior  to  no  King  in  all  the  world.  For  her 
judgment,  counsel,  and  government,  not  easily  second 
to  any  other  that  bears  a  sceptre  in  the  earth.  In  her 
familiarity  with  the  arts,  knowledge  of  the  sciences, 
understanding  and  practice  of  all  languages  spoken  in 
Europe  by  the  people  or  by  the  learned,  I  leave  the 
whole  world  to  judge  what  rank  she  should  hold 
among  princes."  ^  In  a  satirical  passage  of  the  Causa^ 
where  Bruno  is  proving  that  all  vices,  defects,  crimes 
arc    HMSculine,    all    virtues,    excellences,    goodnesses, 

*  L.  143. 


I  ELIZABETH:  MENDOQA  31 

feminine,  Elizabeth  is  given  as  a  crowning  example  : 

"than  whom  no  man  is  more  worthy  in  the  whole 
kingdom,   among   the   nobles    no    one  more   heroic, 
among  the  long  robed  no  one  more  learned,  among 
the  councillors  no  one  more  wise." '     Exaggerated  as 
the  language  is,  it  is  not  more  so  than  was  common 
with  the  writers  who  adorned  Elizabeth's  Court ;  and 
It  was  one  of  his  errors  which  Bruno  could  easily  regret 
before  his  judges.    "  In  my  book  on  '  the  Cause,  Principle, 
and  One,'  I  praise  the  Queen  of  England  and  caU  her 
'  divine,'  not  as  a  term  of  worship,  but  as  an  epithet 
such  as  the  ancients  used  to  apply  to  their  princes, 
and  in  England  where  I  then  was,  and  where  I  com- 
posed this  book,  the  title  '  divine '  is  usually  given  to 
the  Queen.     I  was  the  more  inclined  to  call  her  so, 
that  she   knew  me,  as  I  went  continually  with   the 
Ambassador  to  Court ;  but  I  know  I  erred  in  praising 
this   lady,  she    being   a   heretic,  and   in   calling  her 
'  divine.' "   Through  Mauvissiere,  Bruno  made  acquaint- 
ance with  Bernardino  di  Mendo^a,  Spanish  Ambassador  M«do,,. 
to  England  from  1578  to  1584,  a  much  stronger  man 
as  well  as  a  more  unscrupulous  servant  of  his  king 
than  Mauvissiere  could  be.     Bruno  says  definitely  that 
Mendo^a  was  known  by  him  at  the  English  Court. 
So  well  was  he  known   that   Bruno   approached    the 
Ambassador  in  Paris  on  the  delicate  subject  of  his  own 
relations  with  the  Catholic  Church,  and  was  introduced 
by  him  to  the  Papal  Nuncio.     There  is  absolutely  no 
reason  for  doubting  these  statements,  and  if  true,  they 
are  quite  compatible  with  acquaintance,  if  not  friend- 
ship, between   Bruno  and  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  or  the 
others  whom  he  mentions.     Mendo^a  was  not,  how- 
ever a  persona  grata  at  Court :  he  was  a  thorough-gomg 

'  L.  226.  25  ff. 


1 1 


H 


32 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


II 


I) 


1 


supporter  of  the  Scottish  Queen,  and  seems  to  have 
had  a  finger  in  almost  every  conspiracy  that  was 
planned  or  formed  by  the  English  Catholics.  He 
became  unbearable  to  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  his  recall  was 
demanded  and  refused;  but  in  January  of  1584  he 
was  compelled  to  leave  England,  and  a  formal  rupture 
with  Spain  was  the  consequence,  which  became  actual 
war  four  years  afterwards.  Philip  of  Spain  did  not 
desert  his  champion,  in  whom  he  had  the  highest 
confidence.  In  October  of  1584  Mendo^a  became 
Ambassador  to  France,  and  there  in  1855  Bruno 
renewed  acquaintance  with  him. 

Like  all  his  contemporaries,  Bruno  came  under  the 
Sidney,  spell  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney's  charm.  He  had  already 
heard  in  Milan  and  in  France  of  that  "  most  illustrious 
and  excellent  cavalier,  one  of  the  rarest  and  brightest 
spirits  in  the  worid."  To  Sir  Philip  are  dedicated  the 
two  chief  ethical  writings  of  Bruno,  the  Spaccio,  and 
the  Heroici  Furori,  with  the  expressed  assurance  that 
the  author  is  not  presenting  a  lyre  to  a  deaf  man,  nor 
a  mirror  to  a  blind.  "  The  Italian  reasons  with  one 
who  can  understand  his  speech ;  his  verses  are  under 
the  censure  and  the  protection  of  a  poet.  Philosophy 
displays  her  form  unveiled  to  so  clear  an  eye  as  yours. 
The  way  of  heroism  is  pointed  out  to  a  heroic  and 
generous  spirit."  Sidney  was  one  of  the  first  to  take 
an  interest  in  the  Italian  on  his  arrival  in  England, 
and  when  the  Spaccto  was  published,  on  the  eve,  as 
Bruno  thought,  of  his  departure  from  England  towards 
the  close  of  1584,^  Bruno  could  not  turn  his  back 
upon  Sidney's  "beautiful,  fortunate,  and  chivalrous 
country,  without  saluting  him  with  a  mark  of  recogni- 

*  Mauvissierc's  tuccetsor  wai  nomtaned  in  Nov.  1584,  although  he  did  not  leave 
until  a  year  later. 


GREVILLE  :  SPENSER 


33 


tion,  along  with  the  generous  and  humane  spirit.  Sir 
Fulke  Greville."  There  was  some  disagreement,  how-  Greviiie. 
ever,  between  Greviiie  and  Bruno,  "the  invidious 
Erinnys  of  vile,  malignant,  ignoble,  interested  persons, 
had  spread  its  poison"  between  them,  in  Bruno's 
emphatic  words.  What  the  ground  of  division  was 
we  do  not  know  ;  possibly  the  tone  in  which  the  Cena 
spoke  of  Oxford  men,  and  of  English  scholars  generally, 
had  offended  Greviiie,  and  this  may  have  called  out 
the  partial  retractation  in  the  Causa,  As  is  well 
known  the  friendship  of  the  two  men,  Sidney  and 
Greviiie  (with  whom  Edward  Dyer  was  closely 
associated),  was  of  the  noblest  type.  Greviiie  died  in 
1628  in  the  fulness  of  years  and  of  honours,  but  had 
retained  the  impress  of  his  young  friendship  fresh  to 
the  end.^  It  may  be  added  that  he  became  an  intimate 
of  Francis  Bacon,  who  may  through  him  have  been 
introduced  to  Bruno's  works.  It  must  have  been  in 
some  such  way  also  that  Spenser  knew  of  Bruno,  as  it  is  Spenser. 
probable  that  the  Cantos  on  Mutability  (first  published 
posthumously  in  1609,  but  written  probably  after  his 
visit  to  England  in  1596)  were  "suggested"  by 
Bruno's  Spaccio}  The  "  new  poet "  certainly  could 
not  have  met  Bruno,  for  he  was  in  Ireland  continuously, 
as  secretary,  from  1580  till  1589,  when  he  came  over 
to  publish  the  first  three  books  of  the  Faerie  dueen. 

It  is  possible,  on  the  other  hand,  that  Bruno  met 
Bacon,  who  was  a  rising  young  barrister  and  member  Bacon. 
of  Parliament  when  he  arrived  in  England,  and  had 
already  achieved  some  fame  as  a   critic  of  Aristotle. 
The   idea,    however,    that    he    knew   and   influenced 


^  Vide  add.  note. 

*  First  pointed  out,  I  believe,  by  Mr.  Whittaker  in  Essays  and  Notices^  1895 
{•v.  the  note  to  Giordano  Brunoy  p.  94). 


34 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


i 


Shakespeare,  is  entirely  fanciful.  Richard  Field,  a 
friend  of  Shakespeare,  had  come  to  London  in  1579, 
and  served  his  apprenticeship  with  Thomas  Vautrollier  ; 
Shake-  and  Field  was  Shakespeare's  first  publisher,  having  set 
up  for  himself  by  1587.  It  has  been  suggested  that 
before  this  time  Shakespeare  worked  in  Vautrollier 's 
printing  office.  On  the  other  hand,  it  has  been 
universally  received  that  Vautrollier  was  Bruno's 
publisher  in  England,  and  Bruno  usually  corrected 
his  own  proofs.  Hence  the  two  may  have  met, 
Shakespeare  and  Bruno,  in  a  grimy  printer's  den.  The 
idea  is  charming,  but  it  has  to  yield  before  the  light 
of  fact.  Shakespeare  did  not  come  to  London  until 
1586,  and  there  is  no  proof  that  he  worked  with 
Vautrollier.  Bruno  had  left  England  by  the  end  of 
1585,  and  there  is  no  proof  that  Vautrollier  was  his 
printer.  The  suggested  analogies  between  one  or  two 
ideas  in  Hamlet  and  Bruno's  conceptions  of  trans- 
migration, of  the  relativity  of  evil,  and  the  rest,  are 
of  the  shallowest.^  Thomas  Vautrollier,  a  French 
printer  who  came  to  London  some  years  before,  and 
set  up  a  press  in  Blackfriars,  was  said  (by  Thomas 
Baker)  to  have  gained  an  undesired  notoriety  as 
Bruno's  printer,  and  to  have  been  compelled  to  leave 
England  for  a  period,  which  he  spent  in  Edinburgh, 
to  the  advantage  of  Scottish  printing.  The  Triginta 
Sigilli  and  all  the  Italian  Dialogues  of  Bruno  were 
certainly  published  in  England,  although  Venice  or 
Paris  was  set  down  as  their  place  of  publication. 
According  to  Bruno,  this  was  "that  they  might  sell 
more  easily,  and  have  the  greater  success,  for  if  they 

1  Cf.  the  Sluerterly  Review^  Oct.  1902.  The  references  are  Ttchischwit% :  Shake- 
speare-For  schungen — Hamlet,  1868  j  W.  Konig,  Shakespeare -J  oAriucAy  xi.j  Frith*  t 
Giordano  Bruno ;  on  the  other  side  Beyers Jorf,  Giordano  Bruno  und  Shakespeare  {1%%^) ; 
Furness  in  the  New  Variorum  Shakespeare. 


I 


'!i 


FLORIO 


35 


1^, 


h 


had  been  marked  as  printed  in  England,  they  would 
have  sold  with  greater  difficulty  in  those  parts."  It  is 
doubtful,  however,  whether  Vautrollier  was  really  the 
printer ;  in  any  case  it  was  not  on  that  account  that 
he  went  to  Edinburgh.^ 

Of  the  Italians  in  England  during  Elizabeth's  reign 
the  most  familiar  to  us  is  Florio,  whose  father  had  been  piorio. 
preacher  to  the  Protestant  Italians  in  London.     Florio 
had  been  at  Oxford,  from  which  university  he  dedicated 
his  "  First  Fruites  "  to  Leicester  in  1578,  so  that  he  was 
already  well  known  as  a  scholar   when   Bruno   came 
to  England  and  made  his  acquaintance.    This  may  have 
occurred    through   Sidney;    or    vice    versa^    Sidney's 
attention  may  have  been   called   to   Bruno  by  Florio. 
The  latter  was  described  by  Cornwallis  as  one   who 
looked  "more  like  a  good  fellow  than  a  wise  man," 
yet  was  "wise  beyond  his  fortune  or  his  education." 
It  was  long  after  Bruno's  departure  that  Florio  devoted 
himself  to    the    charming    translation    of    Montaigne 
(published  in  1603),  ^^  which  a  copy  has  been  found 
bearing   Shakespeare's   name,  while  to  Shakespeare  is 
attributed  a  sonnet  in  praise  of  Florio.     Curiously,  we 
find  him  in  his  translation  acknowledging  assistance  from 
one  with  whom  Bruno  also  has  casually  connected  him 
in  the  Cena,  viz.  Matthew  Gwinne.     Of  Bruno's  more 
intimate  acquaintance  in  England  we  know  little  :  there 
are  two  whose  names  occur  in  the  dialogues,  "  Smith  " 
in  the  Cena^  and  Dicson  in  the  Causa,  both  sympathetic  Alexander 
listeners  and  adherents  of  Theophilo,  who  is  Bruno's  ^'*^***°* 
representative.     The  former  it  is  naturally  difficult  to 
place  :  he  may  however  have  been  the  poet  William  ^ 
Smith,  a  disciple  of  Spenser,  who  published  a  pastoral 
poem   '*  Chloris,  or  the  Complaint  of  the   Passionate 


/   I 


*  Vide  add.  note. 


I 


36 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Despised  Shepherd."  Of  Dicson,— "  learned,  honour- 
able, lovable,  well-born  faithful  friend  Alexander  Dicson, 
whom  the  Nolan  loves  as  his  own  eyes,"  ^  a  little  more 
can  be  told.  He  was  the  author  of  a  De  Umbra  Rationis, 
(i583)>  obviously  inspired  by  Bruno's  De  Umbris 
Idearum,  and  on  the  same  basis  of  Neoplatonism.  The 
work  is  extremely  sketchy,  occasionally  diffuse,  and  of 
little  value  even  were  there  anything  of  value  in  the  Art 
of  Memory  which  it  teaches.     But  it  seems  from  a 

^tdic.  reply  it  called  forth  {Antidicsonus)  to  have  had  some 
vogue,  and  to  have  been  backed  by  a  vigorous  and 
aggressive  school  in  which  Bruno,  who  is  joined  in 
condemnation   with   Dicson,   may  have  had   a   place.^ 

watsoa.  The  poet  Thomas  Watson  has  also  connected  Bruno 
with  Dicson  in  his  Compendium  Memoria  Localis^ 
published  in  1585  or  1586.  Watson  also  published  a 
translation  of  Tasso's  Aminta,  in  Latin  hexameters, 
— m  1585,  t.e.  m  the  year  following  the  appearance 
of  Bruno's  Spaccio,  with  its  satire  on  Tasso's  Age  of 
Gold}  Watson  had  been  in  Paris  in  1581,  when  he 
met  Walsingham,  and  he  may  of  course  have  met 
Bruno  also :  he  was  a  scholarly  poet,  although  his 
work  lay  more  in  the  direction  of  translation  and 
imitation  of  foreign  writers,  than  in  that  of  original 
verse,  but  during  his  lifetime  he  ranked  as  the  equal  of 
Spenser  and  Sidney.  The  Compendium  of  Local  Memory 
is  in  clear,  simple,  classical  Latin,  in  strong  contrast 
with  the  corresponding  works  of  Dicson  and  of  Bruno  ; 
but  the  principles  of  the  Art  which  it  describes  are 
those  of  Bruno,  or  Ravenna,  or  of  some  common  source, 
more  skilfully  arranged  and  more  aptly  expressed. 

1  Lag.  223.  4.  a  Fide  \nfra,  part  ii.  ch.  9.  1  la  the  Aminta. 


I        WORKS  PUBLISHED  IN  ENGLAND      37 

VII 

No  fewer  than  seven  works  from  Bruno's  facile  pen  j 
were  published  in  England ;  the  first  of  these  was  the 
Thirty  Seals,  and  the  Seal  of  Seals  (1583)  Explicatio  The  Thirty 
Triginta  Sigillorum,  quibus  adject  us  est  Sigillus^  Sigill-^"^'' 
orum.      It    was    dedicated    to    Mauvissiere,    but    the 
introductory    epistle    was    addressed    to    the    Vice- 
Chancellor  of  Oxford.     Bound  along  with  it,  in  front, 
was    a    Modern    and    Complete   Art    of   Remembering 
which   is  merely  a   reprint   of  the   last   part   of  the 
Cantus  Circaus.     The  work  belongs  to  the  mnemonic 
and  psychological  writings  of  Bruno  ;  the  thirty  seals 
are   hints   "for   the  acquiring,   arranging,  and   recol- 
lecting  of  all   sciences   and   arts,"  the  Seal   of  Seals 
"for  comparing  and  explaining  all  operations  of  the 
mind.     And  it  may  be  called  Art  of  Arts;  for  here 
you  will  easily  find  all  that  is   theoretically  enquired 
into  by  logic,  metaphysics,  the  cabala,  natural  magic, 
arts   great    and    small."      (The   part    called    Sigillus 
Sigillorum  was   a  volume   of  Bruno's  Clavis  Magna, 
perhaps  the  only  volume  published.)     It  was  followed 
by  an  Italian  dialogue,  "  the  Ash  Wednesday  Supper," 
7^  La  Cena  de   k   Ceneri,  also  dedicated   to  Mauvissere. ,  c«,a  ^. /.  ' 
//     Written   in  praise  of  the  Copernican  theory,  it  goes 
beyond   Copernicus    himself   in    its    intuition   of  the 
infinity  of  the  universe,  of  the  identity  of  matter  in 
the  earth  with  the  matter  of  the  planets  and  stars,  and 
of  the  possibility  that  such  living  beings  inhabit  them 
as  inhabit    the  earth  :    earth  and  stars  themselves  are 
also  said   to  be  living  organisms  :    so  there  are  not 
seven  planets  or  wandering  stars  only,  but  innumerable  \ 


\ 


Ceneri, 


il 


*  SglUui  Is  really  a  diminutive  of  "Signum"  in  Bruno's  view  j  "Seal"  therefore 
means  much  the  same  as  "  Sign." 


{ 


38 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


m 


M 


lii 


■J' I 
11 


j  such ;  for  every  world,  whether  of  the  sun-type  or  of 
the  earth-type,  is  in  motion,  its  motion  proceeding 
from  the  spirit  within  it.  Finally,  this  philosophy  is 
shown  to  be  in  complete  accord  with  all  true  religion, 
to  conflict  only  with  the  false.  After  the  "  Ash- 
Wednesday  Supper"  came  "Cause,  Principle,  and 
DekcmsA,  Unity"  (Dtf  la  causa^  principio  et  Uno)y  1584  ;  again 
^m!T^%[,  dedicated  to  Mauvissiere.^  The  first  of  its  dialogues 
is  an  apology  for  the  Cena^  which,  as  we  have  seen,  had 
caused  considerable  feeling  in  Bruno's  circle  of  readers, 
for  the  severity  and  irony  of  its  strictures  upon  Oxford, 
and  England  generally.  In  the  others  the  immanence 
or  spirituality  of  all  causation  ;  the  eternity  of  matter  ; 
its  divinity  as  the  potentiality  of  all  life  ;  its  realisation 
in  the  universe  as  a  whole  (as  a  "  formed  "  thing)  ;  the 
infinity  whole  and  the  innumerable  parts,  as  different 
aspects  of  the  same  :  the  origin  of  evil  and  of  death  : 
the  coincidence  of  matter  and  form  in  the  One :  the 
source  of  all  individual  and  finite  forms  in  the  one 
material  substance  :  the  coincidence  in  the  One  of  the 
possible  and  the  real,  the  century  and  the  moment, 
the  solid  and  the  point :  the  universe  all  centre  and 
all  circumference  :  diversity  and  difference  as  nothing 
but  diverse  and  different  aspects  of  one  and  the  same 
substance  :  the  coincidence  of  contraries: — these  are 
among  the  chief  topics  of  this,  the  freshest  and  most 
brilliant  of  Bruno's  philosophical  writings  :  "  a  dialogue 
worthy  of  Plato,"  Moritz  Carriere  has  said.  In  the 
same  year  appeared  The  Infinite  Universe  and  its 
Dt^t'mfinito  wavlds  (De  r  infinito  universe  et  Mondi)^  dedicated  to 
Mauvissiere.^     It  contained  a  masterly  array  of  reasons. 


no 
MmM. 


*  "  Venezia  "  on  the  title-page. 

'  Again  ^  Venetia."    The  Introduction  is  translated  in  A  e^leetioM  of  several  j^kcety 
hf  Mr.  John  Toland,  2  vols.,  London,  1726.        / 


% 


1  I 


THE  "SPACCIO" 


39 


/ 


physical  and  metaphysical,  for  the  belief  that  the  universe 
is  infinite,  and  is  full  of  innumerable  worlds  of  living 
creatures ;  sense  and  imagination  are  shown  to  be  at 
once  the  source  and  the  limit  of  human  knowledge. 
Yet  the  argument  is  mainly  a  priori :  the  infinite 
power  of  the  Efficient  Cause  cannot  be  ineffective,  the 
divine  goodness  cannot  withhold  the  good  of  life  from 
any  possible  being  ;  the  divine  will  is  one  with  the 
divine  intelligence  and  with  the  divine  action  :  all 
possible  existence  falls  within  the  sphere  of  the  divine 
intelligence,  therefore  is  willed  ;  but  whatever  is  willed 
is  realised,  for  the  power  is  infinite  ;  and  whatever  is 
is  good,  for  it  is  willed  by  the  infinitely  good.  What- 
ever really  is,  is  a  substance,  and  therefore  immortal. 
The  substance  of  us  is  immutable,  only  the  outward 
face  or  form  of  it  changes,  passes  away ;  in  the  whole 
all  things  are  good ;  where  things  appear  evil  or 
defective,  it  is  because  we  look  at  the  part  or  the 
present,  not  at  the  whole  or  the  eternal. 

"  The  Expulsion  of  the  Triumphant  Beast,"  Spaccio] 
de  la  bestia  trionfante^  1584,^  was  dedicated  to  Sir  Philip 
Sidney.     In  form  an  allegorical,  satirical  prose  poem,  it 

^  "'Parigu"  Translated,  except  for  the  introductory  letter  to  Sidney,  in  Sp.  dalla 
Best.  Triom.y  or  the  Expulsion  of  the  Triumphant  Beast ^  London,  1713  j  attributed 
to  W.  Morehead, 

The  Spaccio  was  in  its  outward  form,  no  doubt,  suggested  by  Lucian's  Parliament 
of  the  Gods.  Fiorentino  has  pointed  out  that  Niccolo  Franco  had  made  use  of  a 
similar  idea  in  a  dialogue  published  in  1539,  '^  which  he  described  a  journey  to 
heaven,  where  he  was  at  first  refused  admittance  j  he  had  a  parley  with  the  Gods, 
until,  with  the  aid  of  Momus,  he  obtained  permission  to  enter,  conversed  with  Jupiter, 
received  some  favours,  and  returned.  Franco  was  impaled  in  1565  by  Pope  Pius  V., 
hence  perhaps  the  absence  of  his  name  in  Bruno.  Perhaps  the  idea  of  the  Spaccio 
was  also  determined  by  a  prophecy  of  the  Bohemian  Cipriano  Leowicz  ("On  the 
more  signal  great  conjunctions  of  the  planets,"  1564),  that  about  the  beginning  of 
April  1584  would  occur  a  reunion  of  almost  all  the  planets  in  the  sign  of  Aries,  and 
it  should  be  the  last  in  that  sign.  It  was  inferred  that  the  Christian  religion  would 
also  come  to  an  end  th^^.  This  would  agree  with  the  reason  given  above  for  Bnmo's 
preface,  viz.  that  he  was  leaving  England  in  1584,  MauvFasiere^s  term  having 
expired. 


I 


!' 


Spaccio  de  la 
bestia  trion' 
fante. 


-»--^-»iifc  ^ 


■  11  irl 


% 


;> 


ill 


If 


40  GIORDANO  BRUNO  part 

'  is  in  fact  an  introduction  to  a  new  ethical  system.     A 
repentant  Jupiter  resolves  to  drive  out  the  numerous 
beasts  that  occupy   his  heavenly  firmament — the  con- 
stellations— and  to  replace  them  by   the  virtues,  with 
Truth  as  their  crown.     He  caUs  a  council  of  the  gods  to 
consider  this  plan,  and  in  the  discussion  that  follows 
numberless   topics   are   touched    upon — the  history   of 
religions,    the   contrast    between    natural   and   positive 
religion,  and  the  fundamental  forms  of  morality.     The 
Spaccio  is,  however,  preparatory  to  a  future  work,  in 
which  moral  philosophy  shall  be  treated  "  by  the  inner 
light  which  the  divine  intellectual  sun  has  irradiated 
into  my  soul,"  says  Bruno  ;  ^  in  it,  and  other  dialogues, 
the  whole  structure  of  the  philosophy  is  to  be  completed, 
of  which   the    Besiia   is    merely   a   tentative    sketch.^ 
Jupiter  represents  the  human  spirit ;  and  the  constella- 
tions, the  Bear,  the  Scorpion,  etc.,  are  the  vices  of  the 
age,  which  are  to  be  driven  out  by  Bruno's  hierarchy  of 
virtues.     The  work,  which  is  rich  in  both  moral  and 
religious  suggestion,  was  early  regarded  as  an  attack  on 
the  Pope  or  the   Church,  the  supposed  "  Triumphant 
Beast."     Caspar  Schopp,  for   example,  writes   to  that 
effect  after  witnessing  Bruno's  death.     It  is  really  an 
attack  upon  all  religions  of  mere  credulity  as  opposed  to 
J^CM^  religions  of  truth  and  of  deeds.     The  **  Cabal "  (Caiala 
del  Cavallo  Pegaseo,  con  rjggiunta  delV  Asino  Cillenico) 
was  published  in  1585.^     It  is  dedicated  to  an  imaginary 
Bishop  of  Casamarciano,  who  represents   the  spirit  of 
backwardness,  ignorant  simplicity,  and  was  not  a  real 
person,  as   some  biographers   supposed.     It   is  a   still 
more  biting,  a  merciless  satire  on  Asinity  {i,e,  ignorance, 
credulity,  and   unenquiring  faith   in   religion).     In  a 
later  work  *  there  is  a  remark  on  the  Asinus  Cillenicus, 

*  Lag.  417.        2  Jb.  408.        »  Parigi  is  on  the  title  page.        «  Op,  Ut.  ii.  3,  237. 


lii 


: 


ill 


ELIZABETHAN  PERIOD 


41 


"  the  image  and  figure  of  the  animal  are  well  known, 
many  have  written  on  it,  we  among  the  rest,  in  a 
particular  fashion  ;  but  as  it  displeased  the  vulgar,  and 
failed  to  please  the  wise,  for  its  sinister  meaning,  the 
work  was  suppressed."  Whether  this  refers  to  the 
whole  Cabaldy  or  to  the  last  part  of  it,  is  not  known. 

The  "  Enthusiasms  of  the  Noble  "  {De  gV  heroici  Heroid 
furori\  1585,^  dedicated  to  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  consists  f^^/' 
of  sonnets,  with  prose  illustrations,  after  the  model  of 
Dante's  Vita  Nuova,  Its  theme  is  that  of  the 
Phadrus  and  Symposium^  the  rising  of  the  love  for 
spiritual  beauty  out  of  that  for  sensible  beauty,  reaching 
its  height  in  the  divine  furor — an  ecstatic  unity  with 
the  divine  life,  in  which  all  the  miseries  and  misfortunes 
of  the  merely  earthly  life  disappear.  Many  of  the 
sonnets  are  of  extreme  beauty,  although  Brunnhofer 
goes  too  far  when  he  speaks  of  them  as  surpassing 
Petrarca's,  except  in  smoothness  of  form,  and  as 
equalling  Shakespeare's. 

VIII 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  give  from  these  works  some  The  women 
illustrations  of  life  in  England  as  Bruno  found  it.  ""^  ^"^^*'''^- 

England,  as  in  the  days  of  Erasmus,  was  renowned 
on  the  continent  for  its  beautiful  women,  and  Bruno's 
passionate  and  enthusiastic  nature  could  not  but  feel 
the  attraction  of  "the  fair  and  gracious  nymphs  of 
England."  In  the  Cena  he  appeals  to  the  muses  of 
England,  "  gracious  and  gentle,  soft  and  tender,  young, 
fair  and  delicate,  blond-haired,  white  of  chin,  pink  of 
cheek,  of  enticing  lips,  eyes  divine,  breasts  of  ivory, 

1  Also  Parigi.  Translated  in  "  The  Heroic  Enthusiasts,"  an  Ethical  Poem,  by  L. 
Williams,  London,  1887.  (The  Argument  or  Summary,  and  the  Apology  of  Bruno, 
are  omitted.) 


d 


■*  *  1^1 


r/    " 


H 


42 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


and  hearts  of  adamant :  how  many  thoughts  do  I  weave 
for  you  in  my  mind,  how  many  emotions  besiege  my 
spirit,  how  many  passions  fill  my  life,  how  many  tears 
pour  from  my  eyes,  sighs  burst  from  my  breast,  fires 
sparkle  from  my  heart"? ^  Nature  was  taking  its 
revenge  indeed  for  the  long  years  of  suppression  in  the 
Church.  If  this  dark,  slender,  "  interesting "  Italian 
found  favour  with  the  fair  and  cultured  inhabitants  of 
England,  he  was  the  less  successful  with  the  people  in 
general,  the  Plebs^  then  as  now  uncompromisingly 
opposed  to  the  "foreigner."  In  his  belief  England 
"could  boast  of  a  Plebs  which  for  want  of  respect, 
rudeness,  roughness,  rusticity,  savagery,  ill  training, 
was  second  to  none  in  the  world."*  No  doubt  he 
writes  from  experience  when  he  describes  the  greater 
part  of  them  as  *'  appearing  like  so  many  wolves  and 
bears,  when  they  see  a  foreigner — one  part  of  them, 
the  artisans,  shopkeepers,  knowing  you  as  some  kind  of 
foreigner,  screw  their  noses  at  you,  call  you  dog ! 
traitor !  stranger !  which  is  with  them  a  term  of  high 
abuse,  and  renders  its  object  liable  to  all  the  injuries  in 
the  world,  no  matter  what  manner  of  man  he  is,  young 
or  old,  in  gown  or  in  uniform,  noble  or  gentleman. 
They  will  come  upon  you  with  a  rustic  fury,  careless  of 
the  who  or  why,  where,  or  how,  not  referring  to  one 
another,  but  every  one,  giving  vent  to  the  natural  hatred 
he  has  for  the  foreigner,  will  try  with  his  own  hand  and 
his  own  rod  to  take  the  measure  of  your  doublet,  and 
if  you  are  not  careful  to  save  yourself,  of  the  hair  of 
your  head ; — ^and  when  at  length  you  think  you  may  be 
allowed  to  go  to  the  barber's,  and  to  rest  your  wearied, 

'  Lag.  izj.  3.  Of.  Her,  Fur,  747.  19— "Ic  belle  ct  gratiose  Ninfe  del  Padre 
Tamcsi,"  749.  40,  "  Leggiadre  Nimphe,  ch'a  Ic'  herbose  Sponde  del  Tamcii  gentil 
fatte  Soggiorno,"  and  753.  lo. 

*  Lag.  144.  10. 


m 


V 


! 


s 


r 


tei' 


THE  LONDON  OF  ELIZABETH 


43 


ill-handled  body,  behold  them  so  many  executioners 
and  tipstafis  ; — if  they  can  pretend  that  you  touched  any 
one  of  them,  you  will  have  your  back  and  legs  as  sore 
as  if  you  had  the  heels  of  Mercury,  or  were  mounted 
upon  the  Pegasean  Horse,  or  bestrode  the  steed  of 
Perseus,  the  HippogrifF  of  Astolfo,  the  dromedary  of 
Madian,  or  had  trotting  under  you  one  of  the  giraffes 
of  the  three  Magicians  :  by  force  of  blows  they  will 
make  you  run,  helping  you  forward  with  their  heavy 
fists, — better  for  you  were  they  hoofs  of  ox,  ass,  or 
mule :  and  will  not  let  you  go  till  they  have  you  fast 
in  a  prison, — and  there  I  take  my  leave  of  you."  In 
the  second  dialogue  of  the  Cena^  there  occurs  incident- 
ally, a  characteristic  account  of  the  state  of  Elizabethan 
London.  Fulke  Greville  had  agreed  with  Bruno  to 
have  a  discussion  in  his  house  on  the  Copernican  theory, 
on  the  evening  of  Ash  Wednesday.  When  the  day 
came,  no  further  message  arriving,  Bruno  concluded 
that  the  meeting  had  been  postponed,  and  after  dinner 
went  out  to  visit  some  Italian  friends.  Returning  after 
sunset,  he  found  Flono_and_Guiu_(Gwynne),  impatiently 
awaiting  him  :  a  number  of  cavaliers,  gentlemen,  and 
doctorsrhad  met  to  hear  the  discussion,  but  the  chief 
character  of  the  play  was  awanting.  They  hurried  him 
ofF,  in  the  dark,  and  thinking  to  shorten  the  road,  left 
the  straight  way  and  made  for  the  Thames  to  get  a  boat 
to  take  them  to  the  Palace.  "  Arrived  at  the  bridge  of 
Lord  Buckhurst's  Palace,  we  shouted  and  cried  for 
*oares' — \id^est  Gondolieri^ — and  wasted  as  much 
time  as  would  easily  have  sufficed  to  take  us  by  land  to 
our  destination,  and  to  have  done  some  business  on  the 
way.  At  last  from  afar  two  boatmen  replied,  and 
slowly,  slowly  drew  up  to  the  shore  ;  after  many  inter- 
rogations and  replies  as  to  the  whence,  whither,  why. 


•M-i»ii  r»«iKi 


^ 


-^ 


^"T 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


and  how  much,  they  rested  the  bow  on  the  last  step  of 
the  bridge.  Then  one  of  the  two,  that  appeared  like 
the  ancient  boatman  of  the  Tartarean  world,  gave  his 
hand  to  the  Nolan,  while  the  other,  who  I  think  was 
his  son,  although  his  years  were  five  and  sixty  or  so, 
received  the  rest  of  us.  Although  there  was  no 
Hercules  or  Aeneas  or  Rhadamanth,  king  of  Sarza,  still 

.  .  .  Gemuit  sub  pondere  cimba 
Sutilis,  ct  multam  accepit  Hmosa  paludem.  .  . 

"  The  sweet  harmony  (of  its  creaking  and  whistling) 
like  love,  invited  us  to  forget  our  misfortunes,  the 
times  and  the  seasons,  and  to  accompany  the  sounds 
with  song.  Florio  (recalling  his  days  of  love)  sang 
Dove  senza  me  dolce  mia  vita,  and  the  Nolan  replied 
with  Saracin  dolente  or  Femenil  ingegno,  and  the  like  ; 
and  so  little  by  little  we  advanced  as  the  barque 
permitted.  Although  worms  and  age  had  reduced  it  to 
something  like  cork,  it  seemed  from  its  festina  lente 
all  of  lead,  and  the  arms  of  the  two  ancients  worn 
out.      So  with  much   time  we  made  little  way,  and 

before  we   had   covered   a   third   of  the   distance a 

little  beyond  the  place  they  call  the  Temple— our 
old  fathers,  instead  of  hurrying,  ran  their  prow  along- 
side the  shore.  To  the  Nolan  asking  if  they  wished 
a  little  breathing  time,  they  answered  that  they  were 
not  going  any  further,  for  this  was  their  stance. 
In  conclusion,  they  would  not  budge  for  us,  and  when 
we  had  paid  them  and  thanked  them  (there  is  nothing 
else  to  do  when  you  suffer  a  wrong  from  one  of 
these  canaille),  they  showed  us  the  direct  road  for 
getting  on  to  the  street.  Now,  oh  for  your  help, 
Maphelina,  muse  of  Merlin  !  That  was  a  road  which 
commenced  in  a  black   mud,  from   which   there  was 


LONDON  MUD 


45 


no  escape  even  by  good  luck.  The  Nolan,  who  had 
studied  and  practised  in  the  schools  more  than  we, 
bade  us  follow  him  through  a  passage,  that  he  thought 
to  see,  filthy  though  it  was.  But  he  had  not  ceased 
speaking  when  he  was  planted  in  the  mire  so  firmly 
that  he  could  not  drag  out  his  limbs,  and  so  with 
mutual  help  we  went  through  the  midst  of  it,  hoping 
that  the  purgatory  would  be  of  short  duration  ;  but 
by  unjust  and  hard  fate  he  and  we  found  ourselves 
engulfed  in  a  slimy  passage,  that,  just  as  if  it  were 
the  *  field  of  jealousy '  or  the  '  garden  of  delights,* 
was  bounded  on  this  side  and  on  that  by  good  walls, 
and  because  there  was  no  light  to  guide  us  we  could 
not  distinguish  between  the  way  we  had  come  and 
the  way  we  ought  to  go,  hoping  at  every  step  for 
the  end."  ..."  Higher  up  the  street  we  found  a  lava 
which  on  one  side  left  a  stony  place  where  we  could 

walk  dry  ;  step  by  step  we  stumbled  like  drunk  men 

and  not  without  danger  of  breaking  a  head  or  a  leg. 
To  make  a  long  story  short  at  last  the  Elysian  fields 
appeared,  viz.  the  broad,  ordinary  street — and  then 
from  the  houses  we  discovered  we  were  about  twenty 
steps  from  the  place  where  we  had  set  out  to  find 
the  boatman,  and  not  far  from  the  Nolan's  rooms !  " 
The  temptation  to  give  up  the  expedition  was  over- 
come, and  after  sundry  adventures  with  apprentices, 
servitors,  and  bravos  of  the  gentle  class,  they  arrived 
safely  at  Fulke  Greville's,  where  supper  was  already 
in  progress. 

In  the  Italian  dialogues  the  personal  note  of  com-  Hostility  in 
plaint  sounds  more  highly  than  in  Bruno's  other  works,  ^^s^"*^- 
and  we  may  imagine  that  Bruno  himself  felt  neglected 
in    England    more     than     in    other    countries,    while  \ 
English  hostility  to  his  teaching  was   probably  more  1 


'^j 


46 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


I 


'i 


n 


:!' 


I 


i  I 


\ 


/  contemptuous,  therefore  more  galling  and  more  difficult 
to  overcome.  He  might  repeat  as  he  did,  the  bold 
saying  that  **  to  the  true  philosopher  every  country  is 
fatherland,  "  or  call  himself  with  Socrates  a  citizen  of 
the  world  ;  but  a  touch  of  despair  sounds  through  the 
words  : — "  a  citizen  and  servant  of  the  world,  son  of 
Father  Sol  and  Mother  Earth  ;  because  he  loves  the 
world  too  much,  he  must  be  hated,  cursed,  persecuted, 
and  rejected  by  it.  Meanwhile  let  him  not  be  idle, 
nor  ill -occupied  while  awaiting  death,  transmigration, 
change."^  Elsewhere  there  is  almost  a  savage  stoicism ; 
he  cries  that  he  is  attacked  not  by  one  but  by  many, 
almost  by  all,  and  the  reason  is  that  he  hates  the 
people,  cares  not  for  the  multitude,  adores  one  thing 
only  : — "  That  through  which  he  in  subjection  is  free, 
in  pain  content,  in  necessity  rich,  in  death  living,  and 
through  which  he  envies  not  those  who  in  freedom 
are  slaves^  in  pleasure  pained,  in  riches  poor,  in  life 
dead,  because  in  the  body  they  have  a  chain  that 
binds  them,  in  the  spirit  an  inferno  that  depresses  them, 
in  the  soul  error  that  weakens  them,  and  in  the  mind 
lethargy  that  slays,  etc."  ^  Yet  the  climate  of  England 
seems  to  have  pleased  Bruno  :  "  there  more  than  in 
any  other  region  the  climate  is  temperate  ;  for  the 
excessive  rigour  of  the  snows  is  driven  out  by  the 
earth  beneath,  and  the  superfluous  fervour  of  the  sun 
blesses  it  with  a  continuous,  a  perpetual  spring,  as  is 
testified  by  the  ever  green  and  flowery  land." '  From 
the  SpacciOy  it  appears  that  he  was  struck  in  England, 
inter  alia^  with  the  multitude  of  crows,  the  richness  of 
the  sheep  and  the  sleekness  of  the  cattle,  the  stern 
game-laws,  and  the  land-hunger  of  the  people.* 

^  Lag.  406.  17  {Spaccio).  "  Lag.  292.  3  521.  27  ff. 

*  551-  S^f  5«.  23,  550.  2,  490.  3. 


ii  'J 


MISFORTUNES  OF  MAUVISSlfeRE 


IX 


47 


When  Mauvissiere  was  recaJled,  Bruno  in  all  prob-i  Return  t« 

1 4i  ^k  w      ^%  ^«  ^  I  ^^  ^m       .»^»—  ^^  m^L  I - M^  dill  ^  9      9  m  *  ^i       L^a>da  ■>«  j^,^ 


ability  sailed  with  him.     It  had  been  decided,  unjustly, 
as  Mauvissiere  thought,  to  recall  him   to  France   in 
1584  ;  but  owing  to  his  wife's  health  and  perhaps  his 
claims  on  the  French  treasury,  he  secured  a  postpone- 
ment till  the  following  year,  on  condition  he  should  do 
his  best  for  Queen  Mary  and  her  son  with  Elizabeth, 
"  but  not  mix  himself  up  with  any  of  the  plots  against 
Elizabeth."     In   October    2,    1585,    he  was    still    in 
London,  for  he  wrote  to  his  friend  Archibald  Douglas, 
the  Scottish  Ambassador,  from  London  on  that  date  ; 
the  following  letter,  however,  was  from  Paris  (Nov.  3' 
1585)  and  told  a  pathetic  story. ^      On  his  way  across 
(Bruno    with    him,   we    may   suppose)   he    had    been 
"  robbed  of  all  he  had  in  England,  down  to  his  shirt,  of 
the  handsome  presents  given  him  by  the  Queen,  and  of 
his  silver  plate  :  nothing  was  left,  either  to  him  or  to  his 
wife  and  children,  so  that  they  resembled  those  exiled 
Irish  who  solicit  alms  in  England,  with  their  children 
by  their  side."     He  had  lent  money  also  to  the  Queen 
of  Scots,  and  was  in  great  trouble  concerning  it,  "  for 
neither  her  officers  nor  her  treasurer  possessed  a  sou, 
nor  did  they  speak  of  repayment."     The  unfortunate 
ambassador  had  fallen  upon  evil  days  :  he  was  accused 
of  having  spoken  ill  of  his  successor,  Chateauneuf,  and 
had  to  write,  as  the  report  went,  to  Elizabeth,  to  unsay 
his   insinuations.     In    December    1586,    he   wrote   to 
Archibald  Douglas  of  his  wife — the  Maria  de  Bochetel, 
whom  Bruno  praises— having  died  in  childbirth.      It 
would  be  interesting  to  know  how  Bruno  fared  in  the 
robbery   of   Mauvissiere's   goods.     At   least   we    may 

^     Saliihury  Papers^  iii.  p.  112. 


France, 
October 

1585. 


■Ii 


I^v 


48 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


J 


k 


i  i' 
t 

-.  I 


Paris  : 
Oct.  1585- 
June  1586. 


The 

Church. 


I 


\ 


I 


I 


I 


assume  that  he  arrived  in  Paris  with  very  little  worldly 
goods,  but  with  part  of  the  manuscript  of  a  great  work 
on  the  Universe  (the  De  Immensd)  in  his  possession, 
during  the  month  of  October  1585. 

"  In  Paris  I  spent  another  year  in  the  house  of 
gentlemen  of  my  acquaintance,  but  at  my  own  expense 
the  greater  part  of  the  time  :  because  of  the  tumults  I 
left  Paris,  and  went  from  there  to  Germany."^  So 
Bruno  told  the  tribunal  at  Venice  ;  but  the  duration  of 
his  second  visit  to  Paris  was  from  October  1585  to 
June  1586.  One  of  his  first  steps  was  to  make  further 
efforts  towards  reconciliation  with  the  Church  :  he  pre- 
sented himself  for  confession  to  a  Jesuit  father,  while 
consulting  with  the  Bishop  of  Bergamo  (the  Papal 
Nuncio),  but  they  were  unable  to  absolve  him,  as  he 
was  an  apostate.  What  Bruno  wished  was  that  he 
might  be  received  into  the  Church  without  being  com- 
pelled to  return  again  to  the  priesthood,  and  he  begged 
the  Nuncio  to  write  to  the  Pope  Sixtus  V.  on  his  behalf. 
The  Bishop,  however,  had  no  hope  of  the  favour  being 
granted,  and  declined  to  write  unless  Bruno  agreed  to 
return  to  his  order.  To  the  same  effect  was  the  advice 
of  the  Jesuit  father  Alfonso  Spagnolo  to  whom  he 
was  referred  ;  to  obtain  absolution  from  the  Pope  he 
must  return  to  the  order — to  his  bonds,  in  other  words  ; 
and  without  absolution  he  could  not  enjoy  the  pri- 
vileges either  of  mass  or  of  the  confessional. ^  This  idea 
Bruno  could  by  no  means  entertain,  and  therefore  he 
resigned  himself  to  his  position  as  an  alien  to  the 
Catholic  Church.     He  had  no  intention  of  remaining 


*  Doc.  9. 


*  Doc.  17.     Berti,  p.  4x6,  427. 


The  120 
Theses. 


I      THE  DISPUTATION  OF  PENTECOST    49 

in  Paris,  where  perhaps  his  Italian  writings  had  made 
him  no  longer  acceptable,  but  he  desired  not  to  leave 
it  without  some  recognition  of  the  favour  shown  him 
there  in  the  past.     The  means  he  adopted  was  a  public 
disputation,  to  be  held  in  the  Royal  Hall  of  the  uni- 
versity at  Pentecost  of  the  year  1586.     These  disputa- 
tions of  the  learned  were  a  delight  to  the  youth  of  the 
time,  and  drew  audiences  comparable  in  our  own  time 
only  to  great  football  or  cricket  matches.^    He  drew  up 
one  hundred  and  twenty  theses  against  the  Peripatetic 
Philosophy,  which  stilLJormed  the   substance  of  the 
teaching,  at  the  Sorbonne ;  and  his  side  was  taken  up  by 
the  rival,  more  modern,  college  of  Cambray  (afterwards 
the  College  of  France),  of  which   he  appears  now  to 
have  become  an  associate.^     It  was  the  custom  of  the 
real  propounder  of  the  theses  to  preside  at  the  debate, 
leaving  it  to  another  to  act  as  protagonist,  and  inter- 
vening only  when  the  latter's  discomfiture  was  imminent. 
In  this  case  Bruno  chose  a  young  Parisian  nobleman  of 
his  own  following — ^John  Hennequin,  a  Master  of  Arts 
--but  we  may  well  imagine  that  he  did  not  long  keep 
silent  himself.      We  have  no  knowledge  of  how  the 
debate  went,  but  it  cannot  have  been  too  favourable  to 
Bruno,  for  he  left. Paris  immediately  afterwards.     Its 
date  was  the  25th  of  May;  Bruno,  therefore,  left  Paris 
probably  in  early  June  1586. 

The  articles,  with  a  note  of  explanation  attached  to  Criticism  of 
each,  and  an  introduction  to  the  yfholt— {Ex cuhi tor,  the  Theor^'^'' 
Awakener)— being  the  address  of  Hennequin  at'  the      '°'^* 
beginning  of  the  disputation,   but  written   by  Bruno 
himself— were  published  in  Paris  and  again  at  Witten- 
berg.»    They  contain  a  temperate  but  powerful  criticism 

1  Landseck's  Bruno.  2  ^^,  Qp.  Lat.  vol.  iii.     Introd.  p.  xxxix. 

Centum  et  Viginti  Articuli  De  Natura  et  Mundo,  adv.  Peripateticos,    Paris_, 

E 


50 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


'( 


i) 


» 


I 


of  the  Aristotelians,  by  the  words  of  Aristotle  himself, 
and  of  Aristotle  from  the  standpoint  of  Bruno's  own 
physical  theory,  which  he  believed  to  be  that  of  the 
Pythagoreans  and  Platonists.     The  right  to  criticise  the 
"  divine  "  Aristode,  Bruno  claimed  on  the  same  grounds 
as  those  on  which  Aristotle  himself  enjoyed  the  right  of 
criticising  his  predecessors  :  we  are  to  him  as  he  to 
them  :  their  truth,  which  to  him  seemed  error,  may  be 
right  to  us  again,  for  opinion,  like  other  history,  moves 
in  cycles.     And  as  to  authority,  the  mass  of  which  was 
against  Bruno,  "  if  we  are  reaUy  sick,  it  helps  us  nought 
that  public  opinion  thinks  we  are  really  making  for 
health."  1     «It  is  a  poor^mind  that  will  think  with 
the  multitude  becausej^/j  a  multitude:  truth  is  nj>t 
altered  by  the  <^ions  of  the  vulgar  or  the  confirma- 
tion  of  the  many  "— "  it  is  more  blessed  to  be  wise  in 
truth  in  face  of  opinion  than  to  be  wise  in  opinion  in 
face  of  truth."  2     The  new  philosophy  gives  wings  to 
the  mind,  to  carry  it  far  from  the  prison  cell  in  which 
it  has  been  detained  by  the  old  system,  and  from  which 
it  could  look  out  upon  the  orbs  of  the  stars  only  through 
chinks  and  cracks  :— to  carry  it  out  into  infinite  space, 
to  behold  the  innumerable  worids,  sisters  of  the  earth] 
like  it  in  heart  and  in  will,  living  and  life-producing ;' 
and  returning,  to  see  within  itself—"  not  without,  apart] 
or  far  from  us,  but  in  ourselves,  and  everywhere  one,' 
more  intimate,  more  in  the  heart  of  each  of  us,  than  we 
are  to  ourselves  "  3_the  divine  cause,  source,  and  centre 
of  things.     Aristotle  and  the  sources  of  the  scholastic 
philosophy  were  occupying  Bruno's  leisure  almost  ex- 
clusively at  this  time  :  he  had  begun  the  great  Latin 

r£t  "'"'*  ,7'  ^'Z*  ^'«'^^^'«"  ^crotismus,  etc."    Wittenberg,  ,588.    "  Camoera- 
'  ^A  ^'-  '•-  1.  63.  «  i,  ,.  65.  3  f^^  68^  g^ 


I 


I  GERMANY:  MAINZ:  MARBURG        51 

work,  the  De  ImmensOy  which  was  to  see  the  light  in 
Frankfort ;  and  he  published  in  this  year  a  commentary 
on  the  physics  of  Aristotle  as  well  as  an  account  of  a 
mathematical  and  cosmometric  invention  of  one  Fabrizio 
Mordenti,  which  seems  to  be  of  much  less  value  than 
Bruno  supposed.^ 

XI 

Leaving  France  for  Germany,  the  Nolan  made  his  1586. 
first  halt  at  "  Mez,   or  Magonza,  which  is  an  archi- 
episcopal  city,  and  the  first  elector  of  the  Empire  ";2 
it  is   certainly  Mayence.      There   he   remained   some  Mainz: 
days ;  but  not  finding  either  there  or  at  "  Vispure,  d. 
place  not  far  from  there,"  any  means  of  livelihood  such 
as  he  cared  for,  he  went  on  to  Wittenberg  in  Saxony. 
"  Vispure  "  has  caused  considerable  exercise  of  ingenuity  Marburg. 
among   Bruno's  biographers.       The   best    explanation 
seems  to  be   that   of  Brunnhofer,   that  it    represents 
Wiesbaden,  which  is  not  far  from  Mayence,  and  is  still 
populariy  known  as  Wisb^re  or  Wisbore  ;    but  there 
may  also  be  a  telescoping  of  the  words  Wiesbaden  and 
Marburg.     Bruno  was  certainly  at  the  latter  town,  but 
it  is  of  course  a  long  distance  from  Mayence.     On  the  juiy  25, 
ist  of  July  1586,  Petrus  Nigidius,  Doctor  of  Law  and  '^^^- 
Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy,  was  elected  Rector  of 
the  university  at   Marburg.      In  the  roll  of  students 
matriculated  under  his  rectorship  stands  as  eighth  name 
that  of"  Jordanus  Nolanus  of  Naples,  Doctor  of  Roman' 
Theology,"   with  the    date  July   25,    1586,  and    the 
following   note   by   the   rector :  —  "  When    the   right 
of  publicly  teaching  philosophy  was  denied  him  by  me, 

1  Figuratio  Ariitotelici  Physici  Auditui,  Paris,  1586.  Dialogi  Duo  de  Fatricii 
Mordmi:  Salernitani  prope  divina  adin-ventione  ad  pcrfectam  commetrae  traxim 
Paris,  ii; 86.     Fide  mU\.  nott.  ' 

*  Doc.  9. 


n 


1 


I- 


52 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


II. 


with  the  consent   of  the   faculty  of  philosophy,    for 
weighty  reasons,  he  blazed  out,  grossly  insulting  me 
in  my  own  house,  protesting  I  was  acting  against  the 
law  of  nations,  the  custom  of  all  the  universities  of 
Germany,  and  all  the  schools  of  humanity.     He  refused 
then  to  become  a  member  of  the  university, — his  fee 
was  readily  returned,  and  his  name  accordingly  erased 
from  the  album  of  the  university  b^ume."     The  name 
couJd_still_be  reaiihrough  the  thkk Jine.Jrawn  across 
it,  and  some  later  rector,  when  Bruno  had  become  more 
famous,  re-wrote  the  name  above,  and  cancelled  the 
words  "with  the  consent  of  the  faculty  of  philosophy  *' 
in  Nigidius'  note.^     The  "  weighty  reasons  "  for  which 
Bruno  was  driven  from  Marburg  may  have  been  merely 
his  description   of  himself  as  a  Doctor  of  "  Roman 
Theology  "  at  a  Protestant  university  ;  or  perhaps  an 
attack  upon  Ramus  at  a  place  where  the  Ramian  Logic 
had  many  adherents  ;  or  the  Copernican  system  taught 
by  him,  which  was  as  firmly  opposed  by  Protestants 
as  by  Catholics.     In  any  case  "  the  Knight-Errant  of 
witteaberg.^hilosophy  "  departed  sorrowfully  and  came  to  Witten- 
berg, where  he  found,  for  the  third  time,  a  respite 
from  his  journeyings.     On  the  20th  August  1586  he 
matriculated  at  the  university,^  and  there  remained  for 
nearly  two  years.    Then,  as  now,  the  Protestant  Church 
in  Germany  was  divided^  into  two  parties,  the  Lutheran 
and  the  Cahdnist  oj  Reformed  Churches.    Melanchthon's 
attempt  to  unite  the  two — he  himself  belonged  to  the 
latter— brought  upon  his  head  the  "  formula  of  con- 
cord,"  better   known   as   the  "formula   of  discord," 
because  of  the  disputes  it  caused.     Among  other  things 

»  Eglin,  a  pupil    of  Bruno,  was  Professor  of  Theology  at  Marburg  in  i6o7 
(Brunnhofer,  p.  60).  ' 

2  Sigwart.     The  university  has  since  been  united  with  that  of  Halle   the  seat 
being  at  the  latter  place.  ' 


Aug.  20, 
1586. 


il 


I  LUTHERANS  AND  CALVINISTS         53 

it  condemned  the  views  of  the  Calvinists  on  the  person 
of  Christ,  their  denial  of  his  "  Real  Presence  "  in  the 
bread  and  wine   of  the  communion  table,   and   their 
doctrine  of  predestination.      When  Bruno  arrived  in 
Wittenberg,  Lutherans   were  still   in   power,   as  they 
had   been  under  the  old  Duke  Augustus.      His  son 
Christian  L,  however,   under    the   influence   of  John 
Casimir,  his  brother-in-law,  of  the  Palatinate,  had  gone 
over  to  the  Calvinist  faction,  and  was  trying  with  the 
aid  of  the  Chancellor,  Krell,  to  supplant  the  reigning 
faith   and   authority.      At   the    university   the   philo- 
sophical   faculty   was,    in    the    main,    Calvinist,    the 
theological  Lutheran;  and  among  the  latter  party  was 
an  Italian  Alberico  Gentile,  the  father  of  International 
Law,  whom  Bruno  had  perhaps  known  in  England  as 
a  professor  at  Oxford.     Through  him  Bruno  found 
favour  with  the  Lutheran  party,  and  received  permission 
to  lecture,  on  the  condition  that  he  taught  nothing  that 
was  subversive  of  their  religion.    For  two  years,  accord- 
ingly, he  lectured  on  the  Or^^^w^^ofAristotle,  and  other 
subjects  of  philosophy,  including  the  Lulliaa-art,  which 
he  had  for  a  time  discarded.     The  excellent  terms  on 
which  he  stood  with  his  colleagues  is  shown  by  the 
dedication   of   a    Lullian    work,    De    Lampade    Com-  Dedication 
binatoriay  to  the  senate  of  the  university.     He  speaks  ta^ade, 
gratefully    of   their    kind    reception    of   himself,    the 
freedom  of  access  and  residence  which  was  granted  not 
only  to  students  but  to  professors  from  all  parts  of 
Europe.     In  his  own  case  "  a  man  of  no  name,  fame, 
or  authority  among  you,  escaped  from  the  tumults  of 
France,  supported  by  no  princely  commendation,  with 
no  outward  marks  of  distinction  such  as  the  public 
loves,   neither  approved  nor  even   questioned    in  the 
dogmas  of  your  religion  ;  but  as  showing  no  hostility  to 


i] 


i 


ii 


Is 


'iH 


1 


I 


i 

h 


1 

I 

n 


54 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


published. 


man,  rather  a  peaceful  and  general  philanthropy,  and 
my  only  title  the  profession  of  philosophy,  merely 
because  I  was  a  pupil  in  the  temple  of  the  Muses,  you 
thought  me  worthy  of  the  kindliest  welcome,  enrolled 
me  in  the  album  of  your  academy,  and  gave  me  a 
place  in  a  body  of  men  so  noble  and  learned  that  I 
could  not  fail  to  see  in  you  neither  a  private  school  nor 
an  exclusive  conventicle,  but  as  becomes  the  Athens  of 
Germany,  a  true  university."  In  this  introduction  a 
large  number  of  the  professors  are  invoked  by  name, 
I  among   them   the   enlightened    Griin,   a   professor  of 

(philosophy,    who    taught    that    theology    cannot    be 
detached  from    philosophy  —  that   they  are   necessary 
complements  one  of  the  other. 
Work*  In    Wittenberg    was    published    (1587),    the    De 

Lamfade  Combinatoria  Lulliana^  the  second  of  the 
commentaries  on  LuUy's  art,  and  representing  perhaps 
the  clavis  magna  of  the  Be  Umbris  and  other  Parisian 
publications.  It  was  dedicated  to  the  senatus  of  the 
University  of  Wittenberg.  A  reprint,  however,  appeared 
in  Prague  in  the  following  year  with  a  new  frontispiece, 
a  dedication  to  William  of  St.  Clement,  and  the  addition 
of  a  small  treatise.^  The  chief  purpose  of  the  work 
was  to  furnish  the  reader  with  means  for  **  the  discovery 
of  an  indefinite  number  of  propositions  and  middle 
terms  for  speaking  and  arguing.  It  is  also  the  sole 
key  to  the  intelligence  of  all  LuUian  works  whatsoever," 
Bruno  writes  with  his  sublime  confidence,  "  and  no  less 
to  a  great  number  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Pythagoreans 
and  Cabalists."  As  in  the  earlier  work,  so  in  this  also, 
the  root  ideas  are  that  thought  is  a  complex  of  elements, 
which  are  to  it  as  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  are  to  a 

*  De  ^ierum  Scrmrinio  et  Lampade  Combinatoria  Raimundi  LuUi,  **  the  omniscient 
and  almost  divine  hermit  doctor."    Prague*  1588. 


<i 


I  DEPARTURE  FROM  WITTENBERG  (1588)  55 

printed  book  ;  but  thought  and  reality  or  nature  are 
not  opposed  to  one  another — they  are  essentially  one. 
The  elements  of  thought  when  discovered  will  accord- 
ingly give  us  the  constitutive  elements  of  nature  and 
the  connections  in,  and  workings  of,  nature  will  be 
understood  from  the  different  complications  of  these 
simple  elements  of  thought.  In  the  same  year  appeared 
the  De  Progressu  et  Lampade  Venatorid  Logicorum^  De  Pro- 
"  To  enable  one  to  dispute  promptly  and  copiously  f  ^g^ 
on  any  subject  proposed."  It  was  dedicated  to  the 
Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Wittenberg,  and  was 
mainly  a  commentary,  without  special  references,  on  the 
Topics  of  Aristotle,  and  doubtless  formed  part  of  the 
lectures  on  the  Organon^  given  in  Bruno's  first  year  at 
Wittenberg.  The  simile  of  the  hunt — ue.  the  idea  that 
the  solution  of  a  problem  or  the  finding  of  a  middle 
term  is  like  a  quarry  that  has  to  be  stalked  and  hunted 
down — is  a  favourite  one  with  Bruno. 

Unfortunately    for    Bruno,    the    Duke's    party    in  1588. 
Wittenberg  soon  gained  the  upper  hand — only  for  a 
time,  it  is  true  ^ — and  the  party  to  which  Bruno  himself ' 
belonged  fell  out  of  power.     As  a  Copernican,  Bruno  I 
must  in  any  case  soon  have  fallen  foul  of  the  Calvinists, 
by  whom  the  new  theory  had  been  declared  a  heresy. 
He  therefore  left  Wittenberg  in  the  beginning  of  1588, 
after  delivering  on  the  8  th  of  March  an  eloquent  fare-' 
well  address   to   the   university   {Oratio    Valedictorid). 
By  the  fable  of  Paris   and   the   three   Goddesses,    he 
indicated  his  own  choice  of  Wisdom  (Minerva)  over 
riches  or  fame  (Juno),  and  over  worldly  pleasure  or  the 
delights  of  society  (Venus)  : — '*  Wisdom  is  communi- 
cated neither  so  readily   nor  so   widely  as   riches   or 
pleasure.     There  are  not  and  there  never  have  been  so 

^  Krell  was  imprisoned,  and  put  to  death  ten  years  later. 


i 


Oratio 
Vededictma. 


h 


.1 


(r 


\ 


I  m 


56 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


many  Philosophers  as  Emperors  and  Princes  ;  nor  to  so 
many  has  it  been  granted  to  see  Minerva  robed  and 
armed,   as   to   see   Venus   and   Juno    even    in    naked 
simplicity.     To  see  her  is  to  become  blind,  to  be  wise 
through  her  is  to  be  foolish.     They  say  Tiresias  saw 
Minerva  naked,  and  was  struck  blind  ;  who  that  had 
looked  upon  her,  would  not  despise  the  sight  of  other 
things  ?— '  man  shall  not  see  me  and  live.'  .  .  .  Wisdom, 
Sophia,  Minerva,  beautiful  as  the  moon,  great  as  the  sun, 
terrible  as  the  marshalled  ranks  of  armies ;  like   the 
moon  in  her  fair  gracefulness,  like  the  sun  in  her  lofty 
majesty,  like  armies  in  her  invincible  courage.  .  .  .  The 
first-born  before  all  creatures,  sprung  from  the  head  of 
Jove — for  she  is  a  breath  from  the  virtue  of  God,  an 
emanation  of  omnipotent  brightness,  sincere  and  pure, 
clear  and  inviolate,   honourable,    powerful,    and   kind 
beyond  words,  well  pleasing  to  God,  incomparable  :— 
pure,  because  nothing  of  defilement  can  touch  her  ;  clear, 
because  she  is  the  brightness  of  eternal  light ;  inviolate, 
because  she  is  the  spotless  mirror  of  the  majesty  of 
God  ;  honourable,  because  the  image  of  goodness  itself ; 
powerful,  because  being  one  she  can  do  all  things,  being 
permanent   in   herself,    she   renews   all    things;    kind, 
because  she  visits  the  nations  that  are  sacred  to  her  and 
makes  men  friends  of  God,  and  prophets ;  pleasing  to 
God,   because  God  loves  only  him    that   dwells   with 
wisdom  ;  incomparable,  for  she  is  more  beautiful  than  the 
sun  and  brighter  than  the  light  of  all  the  stars.    Her  have 
I  loved  and  sought  from  my  youth,  and  desired  for  my 

spouse,  and  have  become  a  lover  of  her  form and  I 

prayed  that  she  might  be  sent  to  abide  with  me,  and  work 
with  me,  that  I  might  know  what  I  lacked,  and  what 
was  acceptable  to  God  :  for  she  knew  and  understood, 
and  would  guide  me  soberly  in  my  work  and  would 


: 


/ 


THE  TEMPLE  OF  WISDOM 


57 


keep  me  in  her  charge  :  .  .  .  But  wisdom  in  the  highest 
sense,  in  its  essence  as  the  thought  of  God,  is  incommuni- 
cable, incomprehensible,  apart  from  all  things.    Wisdom 
has  three  phases  or  aspects  or  'mansions' — first,   the 
mind  of  God  the  eternal,  then  the  visible  world  itself 
which  is  the   first-born,   and   third,   the  mind  of  man 
which   is   the   second-born   of  the    highest,    the    true 
wisdom    unattainable    by    man.       Here    among    men 
wisdom    has   built   herself  a  house  of  reason  and  of 
thought  (which  comes  after  the  world),  in  which  we  see 
the  shadow  of  the  first,  the  archetypal  and  ideal  house 
(which  is  ie/ore  the  world),  and  the  image  of  the  second, 
the  sensible  and   natural  house,  which  is  the  world. 
The  seven  columns  of  the  house  or  temple  are  the 
seven  Arts — Grammar,  Rhetoric  (with  poetry).  Logic, 
Mathematics,    Physics,    Ethics,  and  Metaphysics,  and 
the  temple  was  built  first  among  the  Egyptians  and 
Assyrians,    viz.    in    the    Chaldeans,    then    among    the 
Persians,    with    the    Magi    and    Zoroaster,    third    the 
Indians  with  their  Gymnosophists  ;  .  .  .  seventhly,  in 
our  time,  among  the  Germans."    So  far  has  Bruno  come 
from  taking  the  Germans  as  mere  beer-bibbers,  as  he 
had  written  of  them  in  England.^     "  Since  the  empire 
(of  wisdom)    devolved    upon    you    there    have    risen 
amongst  you  new  arts  and  great  minds,  the  like  of 
which  no  other  nations  can  shew."     In  the  category 
of    German    temple -builders    are    Albertus    Magnus, 
Nicolas  of  Cusa,  Copernicus,   Palingenius,  Paracelsus ; 
"  among  hurnanists  many,  apt  imitatoxsjQLthe^jittic  and 
Ausonian  muses,  and  among  them  one  greater  than  the 
rest  who  more  than  imitates,  rather  rivals,  the  ancient  / 
muses  "  (Erasmus).    It  is  not  unnatural  that,  in  his  own  / 
Wittenberg,  Luther  should  be  praised,  as  among  the  Luther. 

^  Plde  Sfaccio,  Lag.  516.  11,  and  553.  21  ff. 


, 


I 


( 


58 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


temple-builders  or  priests  of  truth  :  but  Bruno's  words 
have  a  ring  of  sincerity,  proving  that  his  sympathy  was 
really  aroused  for  the  Lutherans.     "When  the  world 
was  infected  by  that  strong  man  armed  with  key  and 
sword,  fraud  and  force,  cunning  and  violence,  hypocrisy 
and  ferocity, — at  once  fox  and  lion,  and  vicar  of  the 
tyrant  of  hell, — infected  with  a  superstitious  worship 
and  an  ignorance  more  than  brutal,  under  the  name  of 
divine  wisdom  and  of  a  God-pleasing  simplicity ;  and 
there  was  no  one  to  oppose  or  withstand  the  voracious 
beast,  or  dispose  an  unworthy  and  abandoned  generation 
to  better  and  happier  state  and  condition, — what  other 
part  of  Europe  or  the  world  could  have  brought  forth  for 
us  that  Alcides,  stronger  than  Hercules  himself,  in  that 
he  did  greater  things  with  less  effort  and  with  fewer 
instruments, — destroying  a  greater  and  far  more  deadly 
monster  than  ever  any  of  the  past  centuries  had  to  suffer  ? 
Here  in  Wittenberg  he  dragged  up  that  three-headed 
Cerberus  with  its  threefold  tiara  from  its  pit  of  dark- 
ness :  you  saw  it,  and  it  the  sun.     Here  that  dog  of 
Styx  was  compelled  to  vomit  forth  its  poison.     Here 
your  Hercules,  your  country's  Hercules,  triumphed  over 
the  adamantine  gates  of  hell,  over  the  city  girt  about 
with    its   threefold   wall,    and    defended    by    its    nine 
windings  of  the  Styx." 

To  this  temple  Bruno,  eager  in  his  pursuit  of  the 
ever-eluding  Truth,  had  come, — "  a  foreigner,  an  exile, 
a  fugitive,  the  sport  of  fortune,  meagre  in  body,  slender 
of  means,  destitute  of  favour,  pursued  by  the  hatred  of 
the  multitude  and  the  contempt  of  fools  and  the  base," 
and  could  on  leaving  say  to  its  people  that  he  had 
become  "  an  occasion,  or  matter,  or  subject  in  whom 
they  unfolded  and  demonstrated  to  the  world  the  beauty 
and  wealth  of  their  virtues  of  moderation,  urbanity,  and 


If 


PRAGUE 


59 


kindness  of  heart."     It  was  the  last,  or  nearly  the  last, 
spell  of  happiness  that  life  had  in  store  for  him. 

XII 

The  court  of  the  Emperor  Rudolph  U.  was  at  Prague,  Prague : 
in  Bohemia ;  from  there  his  fame  as  a  Maecenas  of  the  '^ 
learned,  and  especially  of  those  who  claimed  power  to 
read  the  heavens  or  to  work  magic,  had  spread  to  many 
countries.     Perhaps  Sidney,  who  had  visited  him  from 
Elizabeth  on  the  death  of  Maximilian,  may  have  spoken 
of  him  to  Bruno  :  while  two  of  Bruno's  friends,  the 
Spanish  Ambassador  St.  Clement  and  the  mathematician 
Mordentius,  were  at  Prague  in  1588.    Thither,  accord- 
ingly, he  now  turned  in  the  hope  of  settled  quarters, 
introducing  himself,  as  was  his  frequent  habit,  with  a ' 
Lullian  work,  which  he  caused  to  be  printed  soon  after 
his  arrival,  and  dedicated  to  the  Spanish  Ambassador.^ 
The  introductory  letter  is  dated  from  Prague,  June  June  10, 
10,  1588,  and  is  in  praise  of  Lully,  whose  importance  '^*** 
to  philosophy  Bruno  values  much  more  highly  than  his 
successors  have  done  :  it  promised  at  the  same  time  a 
future  work,  the  Lampas  Cabalistica^  in  which  the  inner 
secrets  of  LuUism  were  to   be   more   fully  revealed. 
This,  so  far  as  we  know,  never  appeared,  and  Bruno 
tried  to  obtain  the  Emperor's  patronage  by  a  mathe- 
matical work  dedicated  to  him,  of  somewhat  revolu- 
tionary type — "  One  hundred  and  sixty  articles  against 
the  mathematicians  and  philosophers  of  the  day."    The 
Emperor,   however,  had  few  funds  to  spare  for  any 
but  the  professed  astrologists^aiidjkhemists  in  whom 
lay  his   real   interest — not   at   all   scientific,   although 
Tycho  Brahe  and  Kepler  profited  themselves  and  the 

*  De  Specierum  Scrutinioy  vide  sufn-a^  p.  54. 


'  H 


\ 


6o 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


world  by  it.  With  three  hundred  dollars,  which  the 
Emperor  gave  in  recognition  of  his  powers,  Bruno  left 
January  13,  about  the  close  of  the  year,  and  on  January  13,  1589, 
j  matriculated  in  the  Julian  university  of  Brunswick 
Hdm«tadt.  at  Helmstadt.  This,  the  youngest  university  in 
Germany  at  the  time,  of  only  twelve  years'  standing, 
had  been  founded  for  the  Protestant  cause  by  the 
reigning  Duke  Julius,  a  breezy  and  popular  prince, 
who  loved  theologians  little.  Catholics  not  at  all,  and 
founded  a  modeLjuniversity  on  liberal  principles. 
It  was  not,  however,  an  unqualified  success.  Bruno 
received  some  recognition  from  the  university,  or  from 
the  Duke,  and  when  the  latter  died  in  May  1589  he 
obtained  permission  to  give  a  funeral  oration  some  days 
after  the  official  programme  had  been  carried  through 
(on  the  1st  of  July) — the  Oratio  Consolatoria} 

Bruno  professes  as  his  reason  for  wishing  to  speak 
that  he  must  express  his  gratitude  to  one  who  had  made 
the  university  he  founded  free  to  all  lovers  of  the 
Muses,  even  to  strangers  such  as  Bruno  himself  was  : — 
an  exile  from  his  Italian  fatherland  for  honourable 
reasons  and  zeal  for  the  truth,  here  he  had  received 
the  freedom  of  the  university :  in  Italy  he  was 
exposed  to  the  greedy  maw  of  the  Roman  wolf— here 
he  was  in  safety  :  there  he  had  been  chained  to  a 
superstitious  and  absurd  cult — here  he  was  exhorted  to 
more  reformed  rites.  What  is  remarkable  in  this 
speech  is  the  bitterness  of  Bruno's  personal  attack  upon 
Rome,  and  "  the  violent  tyranny  of  the  Tiberine  beast." 
The  constellations  are  allegorically  treated  as  symbols 
of  the  virtues  of  Julius,  or  of  the  vices  which  he  attacked 
and  repressed  :  among  them  **  the  head  of  the  Gorgon, 
on  which    for    hair    there    grow  venomous    snakes, 

^  Published  1589,  Helmstadt. 


I 


HELMSTADT 


61 


representing  that  monster  of  perverse  Papal  tyranny, 
which  has  tongues  more  numerous  than  the  hairs  of  the 
head,  aiding  and  serving  it,  each  and  all  blasphemous 
against  God,  nature,  and  man,  infecting  the  world  with 
the  rankest  poison  of  ignorance  and  vice."  It  was 
indeed  strange  that  Bruno  should  have  thought  of 
entering  Italy  after  publishing  words  like  these. 

However,  he  was  not  to  find  the  Protestants  much  Excom- 
more  tolerant  than  the  Catholics.  In  the  university  7t^ol 
archives  there  is  extant  a  letter  from  him  to  the  "^^°»«^*'*^- 
prorector  of  the  academy,  appealing  against  a  public 
excommunication  of  himself  by  the  first  pastor  and 
superintendent  of  the  church  at  Helmstadt,  Boethius. 
According  to  this  letter,  Boethius  had  made  himself  both 
judge__and^  executioner,  without,  giving  the  Italian  a 
hearing_aLalL:  and  the  letter  appealed  to  the  senate  and 
rector  against  the  public  execution  of  an  unjust  sentence, 
privately  passed  ;  it  demanded  a  hearing,  so  that  if  any 
legal  derogation  were  to  be  made  from  his  rank  and 
good  name,  he  might  at  least  feel  it  to  be  justly  made, 
and  demanded  that  Boethius  be  summoned  to  show  he 
had  not  fulminated  his  bolt  out  of  private  malice,  but 
in  pursuance  of  the  duty  of  a  good  pastor  on  behalf  of 
his  sheep.  The  date  of  the  letter  is  October  6,  1589.  oct.6,  • 
No  further  records  of  the  affair  have  been  found,  so  '^^g-' 
that  the  appeal  was  probably  rejected.  The  meaning 
of  the  excommunication  is  not  quite  clear  :  Bruno  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  a  full  member  of  either  the 
reformed  or  the  Lutheran  church,  although  attending 
services ;  and  in  all  probability  the  sentence  was  a  formal 
one,  which,  however,  carried  serious  social  incon- 
veniences with  it.  The  prorector,  Hofmann,  was 
not  one  to  sympathise  either  with  Bruno  or  with  his 
philosophy  ;  he  was  unhappy  unless  attacking  some  other 


il- 


I! 


• 


62 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


person's  opinions  :  philosophy  in  general  fell  under  his 
condemnation,  although  he  professed  knowledge  of  it.  A 
few  years  after  he  drove  Bruno  from  Helmstadt  he  him- 
self was  dethroned  from  his  place  of  authority,  **  ordered 
to  stick  to  his  last,"  and  had  to  leave  Helmstadt  in  the 
end  (1601).  No  doubt  it  is  against  him  that  the 
invectives  in  De  Immenso^  are  directed : — "  This  schol- 
arch,  excelling  director  of  the  school  of  Minerva : 
this  Rhadamanthus  of  boys,  without  a  shadow  of  an 
idea  even  of  ordinary  philosophy,  lauds  to  the  skies 
the  Peripatetic,  and  dares  to  criticise  the  thoughts  of 
diviner  men  (whose  ashes  are  to  be  preferred  to  the 
souls  of  such  as  these)."  Later  Boethius  also  had  to 
be  suppressed  by  the  consistory.^  The  young  Duke, 
with  whom  no  doubt  Bruno  stood  in  favour,  since  he 
presented  him  with  eighty  scudi  after  the  funeral 
oration,  was  of  the  opposite  party  to  Hofmann,  but 
even  with  this  support  the  Italian  could  not  struggle 
against  his  enemies,  and  towards  the  middle  of  1590 
1590.  he  left  for  Frankfort,  "  in  order  to  get  two  books 
printed." 


XIII 

Frankfort.  These  Were  the  great  Latin  works  he  had  been  writ- 
ing, perhaps  begun  in  England  itself ; — the  De  MinimOy 
and  the  De  ImmensOy  with  the  De  Monade  as  a  part  of 
or  introduction  to  the  latter.  The  printing,  however, 
was  not  begun  till  the  following  year  :  the  censor's 
permission  was  obtained  for  the  first  of  them  only  in 
March  1591,  and  it  appeared  in  the  catalogue  of  the 
Spring  bookmarket.  He  again  sought  and  found 
patronage  with  an  old  friend  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  one 


.  f 


'  Bk.  iv.  ch.  10. 


'  Cf.  Frith*!  Bnmo^  p.  200. 


I 


FRANKFORT  (1590) 


63 


of  the  Wechels,  famous  printers  of  their  day,  in  the 
house  of  another  of  whom  (Andre)  Sidney  had  lived. 
In  the  protocol-book  of  the  council  of  Frankfort,  under 
the  date  July  2,  1590,  a  petition  of  Jordanus  Brums  of 
Nola  is  mentioned,  in  which  he  asks  permission  to  stay 
in  the  house  of  the  printer  Wechel.  This,  as  the  book 
of  the  Burgomaster  under  the  same  date  shows,  was 
roughly  refused  :— "  Soil  man  ime  sein  pin  abschlagen, 

und  sageriy  das  er  sein  pfennig  anderswo  verzehre  " 

"  his  petition  is  to  be  refused  and  he  is  to  be  told  go 
and  spend  his  coin  elsewhere."     In  spite  of  this  refusal, 
Wechel  found  Bruno  lodging  in  the  Carmelite  Monas- 
tery, where  he  stayed,  working  with  his  own  hands  at 
the  printing  of  his  books,  for  some  six  months, — until 
December,  perhaps,  of  that  year.     Frankfort  was  the 
.  main  centre  of  the  book  world  in  those  days  ;  to  its 
half-yearly  book-marts  printers  and  sellers  came  from 
all  parts  of  Europe  to  see  the  new  books  of  the  world, 
to  dispose  of  their  goods,  to  stock  their  houses.     Among  ? 
others  in   this  year  came  the  booksellers   Ciotto  and* 
Bertano,    who   afterwards    were    witnesses   before   the ' 
Inquisition,  and  who  stayed  in  the  monastery  probably  j 
in  September  of  that  year,  where  they  met  Bruno.     In 
the  dedication  of  the  De  Minimo,  of  date  February  1 3, 
1 59 1,  Bruno's  publishers  wrote  that  "he  had  only  the 
last  folium  of  the  work  to  correct,  when  by  an  unfore- 
seen chance  he  was  hurried  away,  and  could  not  put  the 
finishing  hand  upon  it,  as  he  had  done  on  the  rest  of 
the  work  :  he  wrote  accordingly  asking  us  to  supply  in 
his  name  what  by  chance  it  had  been  denied  him  to 
complete."     The  "  unforeseen  chance  "  may,  as  Sigwart 
suggests,  have  been  the  final  putting  into  effect  of  the 
Council's  refusal  to  allow  him  to  stay  in  the  town,  which 
may  till  then  have  remained  a  dead  letter ;    or  it  may 


w 


64 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


% 


I  have  been  the  summons  to  Zurich.     He  had  made  the 

I  aquaintance    of   a    young   Swiss   squire,    Hainzel,    an 

Augsburger   by   birth,   at   whose   castle    of   Elgg    in 

Switzerland  a  gay  and  open  hospitality  was  extended  to 

a  number  of  the  bizarre  and  the  learned  spirits  of  the 

time  :  Hainzel  had  leanings  towards  the  Black  Arts, 

— Alchemy  and  the  rest, — but  had  interest  to  spare  for 

any  others  about  which  an  air  of  mystery  clung,  such 

as  Bruno's  Art  of  Memory  and  of  Knowledge.     Bruno 

Zurich,  spent  a  few  months  with  him  near  Zurich  and  wrote  for 
1591.      * 

mm  the  De  tmaginum  compositionCy  etc. — as  a  handbook 
of  these  arts.  Another  of  the  Frankfort  pupils  would 
also  be  in  Zurich,  the  brilliant  but  erratic  Raphael 
Eglin,  who  published  in  1 609  at  Marburg  (where  he  was 
professor  of  theology),  a  work  Bruno  had  dictated  in 
Zurich,  — the  Summa  Terminorum  Metaphysicorum. 
Eglin  sufFered  along  with  his  friend  Hainzel  from 
the  trickery  of  the  Alchemists,  to  whom  recourse  was 
had  in  the  hope  of  repairing  the  fortunes  dissipated  by 
the  Squire  of  Elgg's  hospitality.^  The  Summa  is 
dedicated  in  a  letter  of  April  1595  (from  Zurich)  to 
Frederic  a  Salices^  and  in  a  personal  reminiscence 
Eglin  remarks  on  Bruno's  fluency  of  thought  and 
speech — "standing  on  one  foot,  he  would  both  think 
and  dictate  as  fast  as  the  pen  could  follow  :  so  rapid 
was  his  mind,  so  forceful  his  spirit." 

In  order  perhaps  to  print  the  De  Imaginum  Com- 
positiane  for  Hainzel,  or  to  complete  the  other  works, 
Bruno  returned  to  Frankfort  about  the  beginning  of 
March,  March,  1 591,  and  on  the  17th  of  that  month  obtained 
permission  to  publish  the  De  Minimo}  It  is  to  this 
period  probably  that  he  referred  when  he  spoke  of  him- 
self before  the  Venetian  tribunal,  as  having  spent  six 


'591 


'  Fide  Brunnhofer  and  SigMrart. 


«  Censor's  Register  :  Frankfort  Archives. 


\ 


LATIN  WORKS 


65 


months  in  Frankfort  (Doc.  9).     It  was  a  second  period 
of  six  months  after  his  return  from  the  Zurich  visit,  of 
which  he  omitted  all  mention — no  doubt  he  had  good 
reason  for  that.^     At  the  autumn  book-market  his  De 
Monade^  De  Immenso^  and  De  Imag.  Compositione^  were 
ready  ^ — the  last  works  that  he  published.     About  the  j 
same  time,  on  an  evil  day  for  himself,  he  responded  to 
the  invitation  of  a  young  Venetian  patrician,  and  crossed  I 
over  to  his  fatherland, — the  last  of  his  free  journeyings.J 
The  Frankfort  works  are  fully  dealt  with  in  the 
chapters  on  Bruno's  philosophy  that  follow  :  in  their 
order  they  were  ( i )  the  De  triplici  Minimo  et  Mensura  :  De  Mmimo, 
— "  On  the  threefold  minimum  and  measurement,  being 
the  elements  of  three  speculative  and  of  many  practical 
sciences  " : — dedicated  to  Duke  Henry  of  Brunswick.    It 
is  the  first  of  three  Latin_42Qems,  written  somewhat  after 
the  manner  a^  ^  ,\\crf^t\u^^  but  with  prose  notes  to  each 
chapter  or  section.     The   style   unfortunately  seldom 
approaches_jhat  of  Lucretius,  either  in  Latinity  or  in 
poeticjmagery,  but_the  works  are  fulljof -vigorous-verse, 
and  the  force,  of- the  ideas  sufFers_Jitde  from_  the  fact 
that  they  are  pressed  into  the  ProcrusteanJ^ed-iiflrhyme 
and  rhythm.     The  others  were  (2)  the  De  I^^ionade^  DeMonade, 
Numero   et  Figura  : — "  On  the  Monad,    number  and 
figure,  being  the  elements  of  a  more  esoteric  (^secret,  or 
perhaps    inward)    Physics,    Mathematics,   and    Meta- 
physics"; and  (3)  the  De  Immenso  et  Innumerabilibus :  Deimmenso. 
— "  On  the  Immeasurable  and  the  Innumerable,  or  on 
the  universe  and  the  worlds."     Both  are  dedicated  to 
Duke    Henry.      The    three    works    together    contain 
Bruno's  finished  philosophy  of  God  and  of  Nature,  of 
the  universe  and  of  the  worlds  within  it,  as  well  as  a 

*  Sigwart,  and  Op.  Lat.  vol.  iii.  introd.  p.  xxix. 
^  Bass'aus  Catalogue  of  Frankfort  Books  fromi  564- 1 592,  printed  1592  (Sigwart). 

F 


/ 


111 


( 


I 


»'   . 


♦1 


66 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


De  Imag. 
Contp, 


Venice.    »• 


Aug.  1591 


criticism  of  the  prevailing  and  contrary  doctrines  of  the 
time. 

In  Frankfort  appeared  also,  in  1591,  (4)  the  De 
{  Imaginum,  Signorumy  et  Idearum  Compositione : — *'  On 
the  composition  or  arrangement,  of  Images,  Signs,  and 
Ideas,  for  ail  kinds  of  inventions,  dispositions,  and 
memory."  It  is  dedicated  to  Hainzel,  and  is  the  last 
of  the  works  published  by  Bruno  himself  It  sums  up 
all  those  published  earlier  on  the  theory  of  knowledge 
and  on  the  art  of  memory.  It  assumes  an  identity 
between  the  Mind  from  which  the  universe  sprang,  or 
which  is  expressed  in  the  universe,  and  the  mind  of  each 
individual  by  whom  it  is  known  or  approached.  It 
follows  that  the  ideas  in  our  own  minds  contain  im- 
plicitly a  knowledge  of  the  inmost  nature  of  reality. 
Here,  however,  it  is  chiefly  the  mnemonic  corollaries  of 
this  thought  that  are  developed — ideas  are  to  be 
arranged  or  grouped  about  certain  images  or  pictures, 
in  such  a  way  that  when  any  one  occurs  to  the  mind,  it 
may  readily  caU  up  those  others  which  are  most  closely 
associated  with  it,  i.e.  which  belong  to  the  same  roiro^ 
or  "  place  "  in  the  mind. 

XIV 

During  the  second  part  of  his  stay  in  Frankfort, 
Bruno  received  an  invitation  from  a  young  patrician  of 
Venice,  Giovanni  Mocenigo,  to  come  to  him  there  and 
instruct  him  in  the  arts  for  which  Bruno  was  famed. 
To  the  surprise  of  all  who  knew  the  circumstances, 
Bruno_accepted,  and  re-entered,  in  August,  the  Italy 
which  he  had  left  some  fourteen  years  earlier  as  a 
refugee.  It  was  through  the  bookseller  Ciotto  that 
the  negotiations  were  carried  on.     Mocenigo  appeared 


:, 


MOCENIGO  AND  BRUNO 


67 


in  his  shop  one  day  to  buy  a  work  of  Bruno  which 
Ciotto  in  his  deposition  called  at  first  the  Heroici 
Furoriy  but  this  name  was  cancelled,  and  De  Minimo 
mag  no  et  mensura  written  in  its  stead  ;  in  all  probability 
it  was  neither  the  Furori  nor  any  of  the  Latin  poems  to 
which  the  second  (erroneous)  title  might  refer,  but  one 
of  the  LuUian  works.  Mocenigo  asked  at  the  same 
time  whether  Ciotto  knew  Bruno,  and  where  he  was ; 
and  on  the  reply  that  he  was  probably  at  Frankfort 
(they  had  found  lodging  in  the  same  monastery 
there),  Mocenigo  expressed  a  wish  that  Bruno  would 
come  to  Venice  to  teach  him  the  secrets  of  Memory, 
and  the  others  he  professed,  as  shown  by  the  book  that 
had  just  changed  hands.  Ciotto  believed  Bruno  would 
come  if  asked  ;  and  accordingly,  after  a  few  days, 
Mocenigo  brought  a  letter  for  Bruno,  which  Ciotto 
undertook  to  deliver,  and  in  which  he  was  besought  to 
come  to  Venice.  The  message  must  have  been  delivered 
in  the  autumn  of  159 1,  and  Bruno  seems  to  have  replied 
by  immediate  acceptance.^  A  previous  letter,  however, 
had  been  written,  probably  before  Mocenigo  spoke  with 
Ciotto,  and  sent  by  another  hand  ;  it  may  have  been 
the  receipt  of  it  which  brought  Bruno  from  Zurich  to 
Frankfort,  to  hasten  the  printing  of  his  Latin  works. 
In  both  letters  there  were  evidently  specious  promises 
of  protection.* 

The  motives  of  Mocenigo  were  mor^jth^L^uestion- 
able.  He  was  oflh^jioblest  blood  of  Venice,  the  Dog^ 
Chair  having  been  seven  times  filled  by  members  of  hk 
family,  and  among  the  patrician  youth  there  was  a 
fashionable  craze  for  LuUism  and  kindred  much-pro- 
mising arts  at  this  time.^    De  Valeriis,  another  Venetian 

*  Doc.  6  (Giotto's  evidence).  2  Dqc.  g  (Bruno's  own  statements). 

*  Sigwart,  KL  Sckrtften,  i.  p.  302. 


I: 


4 


68 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


> 


t 


tf 


I 


)! 


il 


i 


noble,  wrote,  in  1589,  an  Opus  Aureum,  which  was 
published  at  Strassburg  along  with  other  Lullian  works 
(including  Bruno's)  in  1609.  Again,  Bruno  believed  in, 
and  probably  taught,  a  kind  of  "  natural  magic/*  the 
magic  of  sympathetic  Influence  from  stars,  animals, 
plants,  and  stones  upon  the  life  of  man.  Mocenigo, 
as  his  conduct  abundantly  showed,  was  shallow,  mean, 
superstitious,  weak-minded,  and  vain.  He  was  just  the 
type  of  man  to  be  attracted  therefore  by  anything  that 
savoured  of  the  black  art,  of  which  Bruno  was  popularly 
regarded  as  a  devotee.  His  real  aim  may  have  been  to 
J  be  initiated  by  Bruno  into  this,  although  he  professed 
the  desire  merely  of  having  the  Lullian  mnemonics  and 
art  of  invention  taught  him.  His  disappointment,  when 
he  found  Bruno  had  nothing  new  to  give  him  in  that 
;  direction,  might  account,  in  a  man  of  his  character,  for 
j  the  revenge  he  took.  But  there  may  have  been  worse 
pbehind  :  Mocenigo  hadbeen  one  of  the  Saviia/r^Er^iia 
— ^the  assessors  appointed  by  the  State  to  the  Inquisition 
Board  in  Venice — and  was  therefore  familiar  with  the 
intrigues  of  that  body.  He  was  also  under  the  influence 
of  his  Father  Confessor,  by  whose  orders  he  denounced 
Bruno.  The  proceedings  make  it  extremely  probable, 
therefore,  that  the  Inquisition  laid  a  trap  for  Bruno,  into 
mI^Lg.'\^ which  he  unsuspectingly  walked.  It  is  more  diflicult 
to  understand  how  the  latter  so  calmly  entered  the  lion's 
jaws.  -^f«^<«/i«j(ValensHavekenthal),writingto  Michael 
Forgacz  from  Bologna  (January  21,1592),  expressed  the 
general  surprise.  "  Tell  me  one  thing  more :  Giordano 
Bruno,  whom  you  knew  at  Wittenberg,  the  Nolan,  is 
said  to  be  living  just  now  among  you  at  Padua.  Is  it 
really  so  ?  What  sort  of  man  is  this  that  he  dares  enter 
Italy,  which  he  left  an  exile,  as  he  used  himself  to 
confess  ?     I  wonder,  I  wonder  !     I  cannot  yet  believe 


Bruno's 
reasons  far 


n 


PADUA:  VENICE 


69 


the  rumour,  although  I  have  it  on  good  authority.    You 
shall  tell  me  whether  it  is  true  or  false.''     But  clearly 
ill  rumours  were  spreading,  for  on  the  third  of  March  March  3, 
he  wrote  in  a  different  tone,  "  I  no  longer  wonder  about  '^'** 
that  other  sophist,  so  diverse  and  incredible  are  the  tales 
I  hear  daily  of  him  here."  ^     Probably  Bruno  did  not 
understand  what  manner  of  reputation  he  had  ;  he  stilL 
regarded  himself  as  belonging  to  the  Catholic  Church.' 
Ciotto  deposed  he  had  heard  nothing  from  Bruno's  lips 
which    might   suggest  a  doubt  of  his  being  a  good 
Catholic  and  Christian.    Venice  was  a  free  and  powerful 
state,  Mocenigo  the  son  of  a  powerful  house,  so  that  he 
may  well  have  looked  for  safety  ;  and  it  was  his  beloved 
Italy,  for  which  he  had  never  ceased  to  yearn  since  the 
day  he  had  crossed  the  Alps.  J 

To  Venice,  at  any  rate,  he  came,  living  for  a  time  by 
himself,  and  spending  some  three  months  also  at  Padua, 
the  neighbouring  university  town,  where  he  gathered 
pupils  about  him,  and  wrote  as  constantly  as  before.) 
Some  manuscripts  that  were  bought  in  Paris  a  few  years 
ago,  and  which  had  belonged  to  Bruno,  were  partly 
written  in  the  hand  of  one  of  these  pupils,  Jerome 
Besler,  whom  Bruno  had  known  in  Helmstadt,  and  who 
acted  there  as  his  copyist.  Others  of  his  German,  and 
possibly  some  English  friends  were  met  with  at  this 
renowned  university.^  It  was  only  a  few  months  after 
he  left  that  Galilei  was  invited  to  teach  in  Padua — "  the 
creator  of  modern  science  following  in  the  steps_oflits 
prophet."  ^  The  university  was  in  a  state  of  ferment 
at  the  time  Bruno  arrived,  one  of  the  hottest  disputes 
being  that  between  the  students  and  certain  professors, 

*  f^Ue  Op.  Lat.,  vol  i.,  introd.  p.  xx. 

2  Bcrtano  described  him  as  lecturing  at  Padua  to  some  German  scholars  (Doc.  7). 
On  Besler^  and  Eruno's  connection  with  him,  v.  Stolzle,  Arch'tv  f.  Geschichte  d, 
P^il",  iii.  3  Riehl,  Giordano  Bruno. 


) 


I! 


svV*" 


k 


4 


70 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


who  read  or  dictated  instead  of  freely  speaking  their 
lectures — Doc  tores  chart  acei  they  were  called — and  a 
fine  of  twenty  ducats  was  imposed  by  the  senate  on 
every  one  who  should  be  found  guilty  of  this  crime. 
Bruno's  memory  art  may  therefore,  as  Bartholmess 
suggests,  have  "  supplied  a  felt  want." 
Bruno  in  Early  in  1592  Bruno  took  a  fatal  step,  which  showed 

Moccnigo  s  jjQ^  ij^ig  |jg  realised  his  danger — he  gave  up  his  personal 
freedom  and  went  to  live  in  Mocenigo's  house.     There 
the  two  opposite  natures  soon  clashed,  and  the  young 
patrician  began  to  show  his  real  character.    The  teaching 
did  not  satisfy  him,  did  not  give  him  the  power  over 
nature  and  man  which  he  no  doubt  expected.      He 
approached  Ciotto  again  before  the  spring  book-market, 
telling  him  how  Giordano  was  living  in  his  house  at  his 
expense,  "who  promised  to  teach  me  much,  and  has 
had  clothes  and  money  in  plenty  from  me,  but  I  cannot 
bring  him  to  a  point,  and  fear  he  may  not  be  quite 
honest "  ;  and  asking  him  to  make  inquiries  in  Frank- 
fort as  to  Bruno's  character,  and    the    likelihood    of 
his  fulfilling  his  obligations.     Ciotto  returned  with  an 
unfavourable  report :  Bruno  was  known  to  make  pro- 
fession of  a  memory-art,  and  of  other  similar  secrets^ 
but  had  never  been  known  to  do  any  good  with  them, 
and  all  who  had   gone  to  him  for  such  things  had 
,  remained  unsatisfied ;  moreover,  it  was  not  understood 
in  Frankfort  how  he  could  stay  in  Venice,  as  he  was 
held  for  a  man  of  no  religion.      To  this  Mocenigo 
replied,  "  I  too  have  my  doubts  of  him,  but  I  will  see 
how  much  I  can  get  of  what  he  promised  me,  so  as  not 
to  lose  entirely  what  I  have  paid  him,  and  then  I  will 
give  him  up  to  the  judgment  of  the  Holy  Oflice  " — 
the  Inquisition.    This  estimable  frame  of  mind  no  doubt 
asserted  itself  in   the   relations  of  pupil   and  master. 


iV 


HOPE  OF  RECONCILIATION 


71 


Bruno  had  been  introduced  by  Ciotto  to  the  house  of 
Andrea^Morosini,  an  enlightened  patrician,  whose  open 
hospitality  a  number  of  the  most  cultured  men  of  the 
time  enjoyed  ;  they  formed  an  Academy  after  the 
manner  of  those  of  Cosenza,  Naples,  and  other  places. 
"  Several  gentlemen  meet  there,"  said  Morosini  of  these 
gatherings,  "prelates  among  them,  for  entertainment, 
discoursing  of  literature,  and  principally  of  philosophy ; 
thither  Bruno  came  several  times,  and  talked  of  various 
things,  as  is  the  custom ;  but  there  was  never  a  sign 
that  he  held  any  opinions  against  the  faith,  and  so  far 
as  I  (Morosini)  am  concerned,  I  have  always  thought 
him  a  Catholic,  and  had  I  had  the  least  suspicion  of  the 
contrary  I  should  not  have  permitted  him  to  enter  my 
house."  ^  The  last  statement  must,  of  course,  be  taken 
cum  gram.  At  this  time  Bruno  was  preparing  a  work 
on  **  the  Seven  Liberal  Arts,  and  on  Seven  other  In- 
ventive Arts,"  2  which  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  present  to 
the  Pope  in  order  to  obtain  from  him  absolution,  and 
have  the  bann  of  excommunication  removed,  without 
the  compulsion  of  again  entering  the  order.  Many 
Neapolitan  fathers  of  the  order  came  to  Venice  to  a 
meeting  of  Chapter,  and  to  some  of  these  Bruno  spoke 
— to  a  Father  Domenico  especially: — he  wished  to 
present  himself  at  the  feet  of  his  Holiness  with  some 
"  approved  "  work,  and  his  ultimate  design,  as  he  told 
Domenico,  was  to  go  to  Rome  and  live  quietly  a  life  of 
letters,  perhaps  obtaining  some  lecturing  in  addition.^ 
Among  others  he  consulted  Mocenigo,  who  promised  to 
assist  him  so  far  as  he  could. 

*  Doc.  15,  Morosini's  evidence. 
*  Doc.  17  (Bruno).     Cf.  16  (Ciotto  re-examined),  and  9  (Bruno). 

^  Doc.  10. 


i 


\\ 


.  ^  »  _   •♦"kJ  -  -  *-•_  liT- 


ft 


jtl 
11 1  * 


72 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


XV 


PART 


'        Meantime  Mocenigo  was  putting  pressure  on  Bruno 
to  obtain  the  secrets  he  sought  to  know,  while  Bruno 
at  last  became  aware  of  his  danger.     He  pretended  he 
wished  to  go  to  Frankfort  to  have  some  books  printed, 
and  on  a  certain  Thursday  in  May  he  took  leave  of 
Mocenigo.     The  latter,  fearing  his  prey  was  about  to 
escape,  began  to  cajole  him  into  staying,  but  passed  to 
Mayzi.  complaint   and  finally  to  threats  as  Bruno   persisted. 
On  the  night  of  the  following  day  (Friday),  as  Bruno 
had  already  made  preparations  for  leaving,  Mocenigo 
came  with  his  servitor  Bartolo  and  five  or  six  men, 
whom  Bruno  recognised  as  gondoliers,  from  the  neigh- 
bouring stance,  seized  the  philosopher  and  locked  him 
up  in  an  attic-room.     Mocenigo  promised,  if  he  would 
stay  and  teach  what  was  desired — viz.  "the  formulae 
for  memory  and  geometry '*!— to  set  him  at  liberty, 
otherwise  something  unpleasant  would  befal  him.    This 
novel  method  of  drawing  instruction  being  foiled  by 
the  self-respect  of  the  prisoner,  the  latter  was  left  for 
the  night,  transferred   the  following  day  to  a  cellar 
under  the  ground,  and  during  the  night  was  handed 
The  In-  over  to  the  servants  of  the  Inquisition,  who  brought 
quisition.  j^  ^^  ^j^^j^  prison.     On  the  23rd  of  May,  Mocenigo 
denounced  him  to  the  Holy  Office,  with  a  hideous  but 
cunning  travesty  of  some  of  his  opinions,  reporting 
him,  for  example,  as  saying  that  Christ's  miracles  were 
only  apparent,  that  He  and  the  apostles  were  magicians, 
and  that  he  himself  (Bruno)  could  do  as  much  or  more 
if  he  had  a  mind ;  that  the  Catholic  faith  was  full  of 
blasphemies  against  God  ;  that  the  Friars  ought  to  be 
prevented  from  preaching,  and  should  be  deprived  of 


THE  DENUNCIATION 


73 


their  revenues,  because  the  world  was  befouled  by 
them — they  were  asses,  and  the  doctrines  of  the  Church 
asses'  beliefs,  and  so  on.  The  arrest  was  on  the 
following  night  (Sunday  night),  and  on  the  Monday 
a  second  denunciation  was  entered  by  Mocenigo,  than  Second  De- 
which  there  is  no  more  pitiful  self-revelation  of  mean-  °"""***°°* 
ness  and  hypocrisy  extant.  He  confesses  or  rather 
boasts  that,  on  locking  up  Bruno,  he  had  recited  the 
charges  he  would  make  against  him,  "  hoping  to  coerce 
him  into  revealing  his  secrets,"  i,e,  the  Secret  Arts. 
Bruno's  only  reply  had  been  to  ask  for  his  liberty,  to 
say  that  he  had  not  really  intended  to  leave,  but  was 
still  ready  to  teach  Mocenigo  everything  he  knew,  to 
work  for  him  ("to  be  my  slave,"  said  Mocenigo), 
without  any  further  recognition,  and  to  give  him  any- 
thing that  he  had  in  the  house  ;  only  he  asked  to  have 
returned  him  a  copy  of  a  book  of  conjurations  that 
Mocenigo  had  found  among  his  written  papers  and  had 
appropriated.  To  explain  his  delay  in  accusing  Bruno, 
Mocenigo  professed  not  to  have  been  able  to  get  enough 
against  the  latter  until  he  had  the  philosopher  in  his 
own  house  two  months  earlier  (viz.  in  March),  "  and 
then  I  wished  to  get  the  good  of  him,  and  by  the  steps 
I  took  I  was  able  to  assure  myself  that  he  would  not 
leave  without  telling  me  of  it.  All  the  time  I  promised 
myself  to  bring  the  matter  before  the  censorship  of  the 
Holy  Office y  These  denouncements  were  confirmed  on 
oath  by  Mocenigo,  whose  age  is  given  at  thirty-four 
years,  so  that  the  excuse  of  youth  falls  from  him.  The 
following  Tuesday  the  Holy  Tribunal  met  to  consider  The  ve- 
the  case.  It  consisted,  in  Venice,  of  the  Papal  Nuncio  t"fbunai. 
(Ludovico  Taberna),  the  Patriarch  of  Venice  (Lorenzo 
Priuli),^  the  Father  Inquisitor  (John  Gabrielli  of  Saluzzo, 

^  Ambassador  in  Paris  during  Bruno's  first  visit  (1582). 


■MP 


I 

I 

f 


! 


ill 


11  ;l! 


74 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


I. 


de  Sa/utiisy  along  with  three  assessors  or  representatives 
of  the  State  (Savii  alf  Eresia)^  one  of  whom  was  always 
present,  with  the  right  of  suspending  the  meeting  if  he 
thought  proper  :  at  the  present  time  the  three  were 
Aloysius  Fuscari,  Sebastian  Barbadico,  and  Tomaso 
Morosini.  On  this  day  the  evidence  of  Ciotto  and 
Bertano,  the  booksellers  who  had  known  Bruno  at 
Frankfort  as  well  as  at  Venice  (Bertano  was  also  at 
Zurich),  was  taken  ;  it  was  in  the  main  favourable, 
only  Bertano  recalled  the  prior  of  the  Carmelite  monas- 
tery at  Frankfort  having  said  of  Bruno  that  he  spent 
most  of  his  time  in  writing,  and  went  about  dreaming 
dreams  and  meditating  new  things,  that  he  had  a  fine 
mind  and  knowledge  of  letters,  and  was  a  universal 
man,  but  that  he  had  no  religion  so  far  as  the  prior 
knew,  and  he  quoted  a  saying  of  Bruno's  to  the  effect 
that  the  apostles  did  not  know  everything,  and  that  he 
had  the  mind,  if  he  wished,  to  make  all  the  world  of 
one  religion  ;  while  Ciotto  reported  the  common  belief 
in  Frankfort  that  Bruno  was  a  man  of  no  religion. 
First  ex-         The  pHsoner  himself  was  then  brought  forward — 

amination  ^_,   \  r  ^.  " 

of  Bruno.  'A  man  of  ordinary  stature,  with  chestnut- brown 
beard,  of  the  age  and  appearance  of  forty  years "  ; 
Ciotto,  too,  described  him  as  a  slender  man  of  small 
stature,  with  a  small  dark  beard,  about  forty  years  of 
age.  Bruno  of  his  own  accord,  before  a  question  was 
put,  professed  his  readiness  to  speak  the  truth  ;  he  had 
several  times  had  the  threat  made  to  him  of  being 
brought  before  the  Holy  Office  (viz.  by  Mocenigo), 
but  had  always  treated  it  as  a  jest,  because  he  was  quite 
ready  to  give  an  account  of  himself.  This  he  proceeded 
to  do.  The  biographical  part  of  his  account  has  been 
embodied  in  the  preceding  pages. 

^  The  Nuncio  was  sometimes  represented  by  his  auditor,  the  Patriarch  by  his  vicar. 


f; 


BRUNO'S  DEFENCE 


75 


On  the  29th  Mocenigo  made  another  deposition,  Third  depo- 
the  result  of  further  reflections,  at  the  request  of  the  Mocenigo. 
Father  Inquisitor,  on  the  utterances  of  Bruno  against 
the  Catholic  faith.  Bruno  had  said  that  the  Catholics 
did  not  act  on  the  model  of  the  apostles,  who  taught 
by  example  and  good  deeds,  converting  through  love, 
not  force ;  that  he  preferred  the  Catholic  religion  to 
others,  but  it  also  stood  in  great  need  of  reform  ;  that 
he  hoped  great_things  from  the  King-of-Nayaixe  ;  that 
it  was  a  mistake  to  allow  the  friars  to  remain  so  rich 
(in  Venice)  :  they  should  do  as  in  France,  where  the 
nobles  enjoyed  the  revenues  of  the  monasteries,  the 
friars  living  on  soup,  as  befitted  such  "asses."  This 
was  a  powerful  stroke  of  diplomacy  on  Mocenigo's  part. 
It  was  also  hinted  that  Bruno's  life  was  not  pure,  that 
he  said  the  Church  erred  in  making  a  sin  of  what  was 
of  great  service  in  nature,  and  of  what  he  (Bruno) 
regarded  as  a  high  merit. 

Next  day  (Saturday)  Bruno  continued  his  account 
of  his  life,  the  first  note  of  defence  being  struck  in  an 
appeal  to  the  famous  doctrine  of  the  "twofold  truth."  Thetwo- 
"  Some  of  the  works  composed  by  me  and  printed  I  do  **     "*  ' 
not  approve,  because  I  spoke  and  discoursed  too  much 
as  a  philosopher  rather  than  as  an  '  honest '  ^  man  and 
good  Christian,  and  in  particular  I  know  that  in  some 
of  these  works  I  taught  and  believed  on  philosophic 
grounds   what   ought   to   have   been  referred   to   the 
potency,  wisdom,  and  goodness  of  God,  according  to 
the  Christian  faith,  basing  my  doctrine  on  sense  and 
reason,  and  not  upon  faith."     On  Tuesday,  June  2,  a 
deposition  was  read   from    Fra  Domenico  da  Nocera  Fra  Do- 
confirming  Bruno's  appeal  to  him,  and  his  desire  for 
the  favour  of  the  Pope  and  a  reconciliation  with  the 

^  U.  orthodox,  right-thinking. 


menico. 


I\ 


.^i 


76 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


i 


is 


i! 
il 


i 


truth. 


Church,  so  that  he  might  be  able  to  live  quietly  in 
Rome.  The  prisoner  was  then  cross-examined,  and 
submitted  a  list  of  his  works,  published  and  unpublished. 
In  these  he  claimed  to  have  spoken  always  "  philo- 
sophically, and  according  to  the  light  of  nature,  having 
no  special  regard  to  what  ought  to  be  believed  accord- 
ing to  the  faith  :  his  intention  had  been  not  to  impugn 
Phiiosophi-  religion,  but  only  to  exalt  philosophy,  although  many 
theological  impieties  might  have  been  uttered  on  the  strength  of 
his  natural  light.  Directly  he  had  taught  nothing  con- 
trary to  the  Christian  Catholic  religion ;  thus  in  Paris 
he  had  been  allowed  to  vindicate  the  articles  against  the 
Peripatetics  and  others,  by  natural  principles,  without 
prejudice  to  the  truth  according  to  the  light  of  the 
faith  :  indirectly,  Aristotle's  and  Plato's  works  were  as 
contrary,  indeed  much  more  contrary,  to  the  faith  than 
the  articles  philosophically  propounded  and  defended 
by  him."  He  proceeded  to  give  an  admirable  state- 
ment of  his  "  philosophical "  creed  which  might  have 
fired  the  hearts  of  his  judges : — "  I  believe  in  aa  infinite 
universe,  the  effect  of  the  infinite  dmne  jpotsncy,  be- 
cause  it  has  seemed_to  me  unworthy  of  the  divine 
goodness^  and^power  to  create  a  finite  world^^jwhen  able 
to  produce  besides  it_another- and  others  infinite  :  so 
that  I  have  declared  that  there  are  endless  particular 
worlds  similar  to  this  of  the  Earth  ;  withJEythagoras  I 
regariJt  as  a_star,  and  similar  to  it  are  the  moon,  the 
planets,  and  other  stars,  which  are  infinite,  and  all  these 
bodies  are  worlds,  and  without  number,  constituting 
the  infinite-all  {universita)  in  an  infinitj£__space ;  while 
the  latter  is  called  the  infinite  universe,  in  which  are 
innumerable  worlds  ;  so  that  there  are  two  kinds  of 
infinity,  one  in  the  magnitude  of  the  universe,  the  other 
in  the  multitude  of  worlds,   by  which  indirectly  the 


reed,     f 


BRUNO'S  CREED 


77 


truth  according  to  the  faith  may  be  impugned.  In  this 
universe  I  place  a  universal  providence,  in  virtue  of 
which  everything  lives,  grows,  moves,  and  comes  to  and 
abides  in  its  perfection.  It  is  present  in  two  fashions  : 
the  one  is  that  in  which  the  spirit  is  present  in  the  body, 
wholly  in  the  whole,  and  wholly  in  any  part  of  the 
whole,  and  that  I  call  nature^  the  shadow,  the  footprint 
of  divinity ;  the  other  is  the  ineffable  way  in  which  God 
by  essence,  presence  and  power,  is  in  all  and  above  all, 
not  as  part,  not  as  spirit  or  life,  but  in  an  inexplicable 
way.  Then  in  the  divinity,  I  regard  all  attributes  as 
being  one  and  the  same  thing.  With  theologians  and 
the  greatest  philosophers  I  assume  three  attributes — 
fower^  wisdom^  and  goodness^  or  mind^  understandings 
and  love ;  through  these,  things  have,  first,  existence  by 
reason  of  mind;  then  an  ordered  and  distinct  existence 
by  reason  of  understanding ;  third,  concord  and  sym- 
metry by  reason  of  love.  Distinction  in  divinity  is  thus 
posited  by  way  of  reason,  not  of  substantial  truth." 
God  in  Himself  is  one  ;  but  three  aspects  of  this  unity 
may  be  distinguished.  Mind  (Will  or  Force  or  Power), 
Understanding  (Knowledge,  the  Word),  and  Love  or 
Soul.  These  three  aspects  correspond,  of  course,  to  the 
three  Persons  of  the  Godhead,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  respectively.  Bruno  confesses,  however, 
to  have  doubted,  from  the  philosophic  point  of  view, 
the  becoming  flesh  of  the  Understanding  or  Word  of 
God,  although  he  did  not  remember  giving  definite 
expression  to  this  doubt ;  and  as  to  the  Spirit,  he  did 
not  think  of  it  as  a  person,  but  rather  as  the  soul  or  life 
in  the  universe.^  "From  the  Spirit,  the  life  of  the 
universe,  springs,  in  my  philosophy,  the  life  and  soul 

^  Bruno  refers  to  the  Pythagorean  doctrine,  quoting  the  JEneid,  vi.  724  fF.  :  Prin- 
cipio  caelum   .   .    .   mens  agitat  molem. 


I 

u 


■4PP9I 


78 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


DIVINITY  OF  CHRIST 


79 


\ 
J' 


I'J     I 


of  everything  that  has  soul  and  life ;  and  I  regard  it 
as  immortal,  as  also  bodies  in  substance  are  immortal, 
death  being  nothing  but  division  and  congregation  :  as 
the  Preacher  says,  '  The  thing  that  hath  been  it  is  that 
which  shall  be,  and  that  which  is  done  is  that  which 
shall  be  done ;  and  there  is  no  new  thing  under 
the  sun.' " 

Bruno  confessed  to  have  doubted  the  application  of 
the  word  "persons"  to  these  distinctions  within  the 
Godhead,  since  his  eighteenth  year  ;  but  he  had  read  in 
St  Augustine  that  it  was  not  an  old  term,  but  new  at 
that  time.  To  none  of  his  doubts  as  to  the  distinction 
of  persons  or  the  Incarnation  had  he  ever  knowingly 
given  expression,  except  in  quoting  others,  Arius, 
Gabellius,  and  the  like.  .  .  .  On  the  same  day,  in  his 
prison-house,  he  was  further  examined,  and  repeated 
that  whatever  he  had  written  or  said  contrary  to  the 
Catholic  faith  was  not  intended  as  direct  impugnment 
of  the  faith,  but  was  based  on  philosophic  grounds  or 
on  the  authority  of  heretics  ;  he  made  clearer  also  his 
reason  for  doubting  the  applicability  of  the  term 
"  persons  "  to  the  distinctions  in  the  Godhead,  quoting 
Augustine's  words,  *'  Cum  formidine prof erimus  hoc  nomen 
personae^  quando  loquimur  de  divinis^  et  necessitate  coacti 
utimur.'^  Especially  as  to  the  divinity  of  Christ  he 
had  been  unable  to  understand  how  there  could  be  any 
such  relation  between  the  infinite,  divine  substance,  and 
the  human,  finite,  as  between  any  other  two  things, — 
soul  and  body,  for  example, — which  may  subsist  together 
as  one  reality,  but  he  had  only  hesitated  as  to  the  in- 
effable manner  of  the  Incarnation,  and  not  as  to  the 
authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  which  says  "The 
Word  was  made  flesh."  Divinity  could  not  be  held, 
theologically  speaking,  to  be  along  with  humanity  in 


any  other  fashion  than  by  way  of  assistentia  {i,e. 
temporary  influence  or  presence),  but  he  did  not  infer 
anything  from  this  contrary  to  the  divinity  of  Christ,  or 
of  the  supposed  Divine  Being  that  is  called  Christ ;  the 
miracles  of  Christ  he  had  always  held  to  be  divine,  true, 
and  real — not  apparent  miracles;  while  the  miracles 
of  others  were  only  in  virtue  of  Christ :  as  to  the 
sacrifice  of  the  Holy  Mass  and  the  Transubstantiation 
of  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ  he  had  always  held 
with  the  Church  :  he  had  not  attended  Mass  because 
of  his  excommunication,  but  had  been  to  Vespers  and 
to  preachings  in  the  Churches  :  in  his  dealings  with 
heretics,  he  had  always  treated  of  matters  philosophical, 
and  had  never  allowed  anything  to  escape  him  that  was 
contrary  to  the  Catholic  Doctrine,  and  for  that  reason 
Calvinists  and  Lutherans  had  always  thought  of  him  as 
having  no  religion,  because  he  did  not  entangle  himself 
with  theirs,  and  had  been  in  many  parts  without  having 
communicated,  or  accepted  the  religion  of  any  of  them. 
Some  of  the  grosser  charges  of  Mocenigo  were  read  to 
him,  which  he  strenuously  denied, — and  "  as  he  spoke," 
says  the  faithful  record,  "  he  grew  exceedingly  sorrow- 
ful," marvelling  that  such  things  could  be  imputed  to 
him.  More  strenuous  grew  his  assertion  of  his 
orthodoxy — as  to  the  person  of  Christ,  the  Virgin 
Motherhood,  the  Sacrament  of  Repentance  ;  he  spoke 
of  his  repeated  efforts  to  obtain  absolution,  how  for  his 
sins  he  had  always  asked  pardon  of  God,  and  would 
also  willingly  have  confessed  himself  had  he  been 
able,  because  he  had  never  doubted  of  this  sacrament 
(or  of  any  of  the  others),  being  firmly  convinced  that 
impenitent  sinners  were  condemned  and  that  hell  was 
their  portion.  Heretic  theologians, — Melanchthon, 
Luther,  Calvin  and  others,— he  condemned  and  despised, 


i\i 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


t# 


I  i'! 


%  It  II 


♦ 


and  had  read  their  books  from  curiosity  merely,  although 
there  were  others,  as  those  of  Raymond  Lully,  which 
he  had  kept  by  him  because  they  treated  of  matters 
Aquinas,  philosophical.  Saint  Thomas  Aquinas,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  had  always  esteemed  and  loved  as  his  own 
soul ;  had  his  writings  always  by  him,  read,  studied,  and 
pondered  over  them ;  and  had  spoken  of  Aquinas  in 
one  of  his  works  as  *'  The  Honour  and  Light  of  all 
the  race  of  theologians,  and  of  Peripatetics  among 
philosophers."  ^  When  he  had  spoken  of  good  works 
as  necessary  for  salvation,  he  had  in  his  mind  not 
Catholicism,  but  "the  reformed  religion,  which  is  in 
fact  deformed  in  the  extreme."  One  by  one  Mocenigo's 
charges  were  read,  and  denied,  except  that  as  to  his 
contrasting  the  apostles'  method  of  spreading  the  Gospel 
with  that  of  the  Catholic  Church, — this  charge  he  evaded. 
When  the  grossest  of  all,  however,  was  read,  alleging 
him  to  have  said  the  apparent  miracles  ^oLChrist  and 
the  apostles  were  due  to_th&_  black  art,  and  that  he 
himself  could  equally  well  do  them  all — he  coujd_not 
restrain^  himself ; — "raising  both  hands,  and  crying, 
*  What  is  this  ?  Who  has  invented  these  devilries  ?  I 
neveri^d-  sudL_A_lhing,  it  never  entered  my  Imagi- 
nation ;  oh  God  !  what  is  this  ?  I  would  rather  be  dead 
than  that  such  a  thing  should  have  been  uttered  by 
me  ! ' "  His  references_to_women  he  admitted  an 
error,  but  they  had  been  spoken  in  lightness  amid 
company  and  during  talk,  of  things  "  otiose^^nd 
mundane."  Threatened  with  extreme  measures  if  he 
refused  to  confess  his  errors  with  respect  to  the  Church, 
Bruno  promised  to  make  a  greater  effort  to  recall  all 
he  had  said  and  done  against  the  Christian  and  Catholic 
faith,  protested  the  sincerity  of  all  he  said,  and  was  left 

^  Dt  Motude  {Op.  Lot,  i.  2.  p.  415). 


I        BRUNO'S  ABJURATION  AT  VENICE     8i 

in  peace  for  a  time.     This  interview  took  place  in  the 
prison  of  the  Inquisition. 

On  the  following  day  in  the  same  place  the  exam- 
ination was  continued — his  neglect  of  Holy  Days  and 
Fastings  in  England  and  Germany  ;    his  attendance  at 
heretic  preachings    (although    he    emphatically   denied 
that   he   ever    partook    of    the    communion    in    any 
Protestant  church) ;  his  doubts  concerning  the  Incarna- 
tion, the  Miracles,  the  Sacraments  ;  his  familiarity  with 
magical  arts  ;  his  praise  of  heretics  and  heretic  Princes, 
— these  were  some  of  the  many  points  of  indictment 
which   he   had   to  face.      The    Book  of  Conjurations^ 
and  others  like  it,  he  professed  to  have  had  only  out  of 
curiosity,  although  he  despised  and  discredited  sorcery  ; 
but   he  had    wished    to   study   the   divining   art,   and 
especially  the  divinatory  (prophetic)  side  of  astrology, 
merely  out    of  scientific   interest,    and  therefore   had 
such  books  by  him.     Heretics  he  had  praised,  only  for 
the  moral  virtues  they  had.-showed,  or  from  convention 
(as  in  the  case  of  QueenJElizabeth).     The  course  of  his 
examination  was  making  clear  to  IBruno  at  last  in  how 
great  danger  he  really  stood  ;  and  on  this  day  he  made, 
probably  in  hope  of  immediate    release,  a  formal  and 
solemn    abjuration    of  all    the    errors    he   had    ever 
committed  pertaining  to  the  Catholic  life  and  profession, 
all  the  heresies  he  had  believed  and  the  doubts  he  had 
permitted  himself  to  hold  about  the  Catholic  Faith  or  the 
decrees  of  the  Church  ;  and  prayed  that  the  Holy  Tribunal 
would  receive  him  into  the  bosom  of  the  Holy  Church, 
provide  him  with  remedies  proper  to  his  salvation,  and 
show  mercy  upon  him. 

The  earlier  processes  against  him  at  Naples  and  at 
Rome  were,  however,  recalled  to  mind  ;  and  on  the 
following    day   he    was   again    questioned    as   to    his 


I 

^■A. 


82 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


III 


it 


't 


f 


familiarity    with    the   magic  arts.     Three  weeks  later 
Morosini  was  examined  and   Ciotto  re-examined  ;    in 
both  cases  the  evidence  was  wholly  in  Bruno's  favour. 
July  30  Then  a  long  interval  elapsed.     It  was  not  tiU  the  30th 
of  July  that  the  case  was  again  taken  up.^     Bruno  had 
nothing  to  add  to  his  defence,  except  his  constant  desire 
to  enter  the  Church,  if  he  could  only  do  so  without 
undergoing  the  bondage   of  monkhood  agsdn.     Worn 
out  by  anxiety,  and  possibly  by  torture,  he  humbled 
himself  before  his  judges:  kneeling,  he  asked  pardon  of 
God  and  of  his  judges  for  all  the  errors  he  had  committed, 
and  offered  himself  as  prepared  for  any  penance  they 
might  lay  upon  him.     He  hoped  his  chastisement  might 
exceed   rather   in   gravity   than   in   publicity,  whereby 
dishonour  might  be  cast  upon  the  sacred  habit  of  the 
Order  which  he  had  borne  ;  and  if  by  the  mercy  of  God 
and  of  "  their  illustrious  lordships,"  his  life  should  be 
granted  him,   he   promised  to  make    amends   for    the 
scandal  he  had  created  by  equally  great  edification. 

XVI 

r  This  closed  the  acts  of  the  process  so  far  as  the 
Venetian  tribunal  was  concerned.  The  **  Sacred  Con- 
gregation of  the  Supreme  Tribunal  of  the  Holy  Office," 
at  Rome,  was  eager  to  secure  the  distinguished  heretic  for 
itself,  and  on  the  1 2th  of  September  the  Cardinal  San 
Severina  wrote  to  this  effect ;  the  Venetian  tribunal, 
on  the  1 7th,  gave  orders  that  Bruno  be  sent  as  soon  as 
possible  to  the  Governor  of  Ancona,  who  would  see  to 
his  further  custody  to  Rome.  On  the  28  th  this 
decision  was  reported  to  the  Doge  and  Council  of 
Venice   by  the   Vicar    of  the    Patriarch   (the  Father 

*  Doc.  17. 


il 


i 


ROME  AND  VENICE 


83 


Inquisitor     and     Thomas     Morosini    being    present), 
with  an  account  of  the  charges  against  Bruno,  and  he 
added,  that  they  did   not   wish   to   act   without   first 
informing  the  College  (the  Doge  and  Senators),  so  that 
they  might  give  what  order  they  thought  fit,  and  the 
tribunal   would   wait   to   know  what   reply  should   be 
made  to  Rome  ;  but  he  begged   for   expedition,  since 
there  was  at  that  very  time  an  opportunity  of  sending 
the    prisoner    in    security ;    to   all   which   the   Senate 
promised  to  give  due  consideration.     On  the  same  day 
the  Father  Inquisitor  returned,  after  dinner,  to  learn  the 
decision  of  the  Signors,  adding  that  there  was  a  vessel  at 
hand,  ready  to  set  out.     The  State  was  not  so  willing, 
however,  to  allow  the  Church  to  have  its  way,  and  it 
was  replied  **that  the  matter   being  of  moment,  and 
deserving   consideration,   and   the   occupations   of  the 
State  being  many  and  weighty,  they  could  not  at  that 
time  come  to  a  decision,  and  his  Reverence  might  for 
the  present  let  the  vessel  sail."     On  the  3rd  of  October 
they   wrote   to   their   ambassador  (Donato)  at  Rome, 
that  the  request  had  been  refused,  on  the  ground  that  it 
meant   an  infringement  of  the  rights  of  the  Venetian 
tribunal  and  a  menace  for  the  future  to  their  subjects. 
Nearly  three  months  elapsed  before  any  further  steps 
were  taken.     On  the  22nd  December  the  Papal  Nuncio  Dec.  22. 
appeared  before  the  College  pressing  them  to  deal  with 
the    Friar   Giordano   Bruno,    described   as   a    publicly 
known  Arch-heretic,  whom  the  Pope  desired  to  have  at 
Rome,  in  order  to  bring  to  an  end  the  process  that  was 
begun  against  him  in  the  Holy  Inquisition,  and  their 
serenities  were  begged  to  permit  his  being  carried  to 
Rome,  that  justice  might  be  done.     His  Holiness,  the 
Pope,  had  already,  in  the  interval,  impressed  his  desire 
upon  the  minds  of  the  ambassadors  at  Rome.     On  the 


84 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


January  7» 
»593- 


■  i 


procurator,  Donato,  who  had  meanwhile  returned  from 
Rome,  pressing  the  unconstitutional  nature  of  the  act, 
the  Nuncio  pointed  out  that  Bruno  was  a  Neapolitan, 
not  a  subject  of  the  Venetian  Republic  at  all ;  that  there 
were  earlier  unfinished  processes  against  him  both  in 
Naples  and  in  Rome ;  and  that  in  similar  cases  the 
accused  had  been  sent  to  the  chief  tribunal  at  Rome. 
The  Senate  agreed  to  consider  the  matter,  and  expressed 
their  desire  to  give  every  possible  satisfaction  to  his 
Holiness. 

On  the  7  th  of  January,  their  procurator,  Contarini, 
reported  on  Bruno  to  the  College  that  "  his  faults  were 
extremely  grave  in  respect  of  heresies,  although  in 
other  respects  one  of  the  most  excellent  and  rarest 
natures,  and  of  exquisite  learning  and  knowledge**; 
i«/,  since  the  case  was  begun  at  Naples  and  Rome,  was 
one  of  extraordinary  gravity,  and  Bruno  a  stranger, 
not  a  subject,  he  thought  it  might  be  convenient  to 
satisfy  his  Holiness,  as  had  been  done  before  at  times 
in  similar  cases.  He  also  hinted  that  Bruno  himself, 
on  being  informed  that  his  case  was  to  be  brought  to 
a  speedy  conclusion,  had  said  he  would  send  a  writing 
in  which  he  was  to  ask  to  be  remitted  to  Rome,  but 
that  this  might  have  been  intended  merely  to  put  off 
time.  His  report  he  desired  to  have  kept  secret,  both 
for  public  and  for  private  reasons.^  It  was  successful 
in  its  aim,  for  on  the  7th  of  January  it  was  decided 
that  "to  gratify  the  Pope,  the  said  Giordano  Bruno 
be  remitted  to  the  Tribunal  of  the  Inquisition  at  Rome, 
being  consigned  to  Monsignor  the  Nuncio  that  he  may 
be  sent  in  what  custody  and  by  what  means  his  Reverend 
Lordship  thinks  best ;  that  the  Nuncio  be  notified  of 
this,  and  that  our  ambassador  at  Rome  be  also  advised 

*  Doc.  24.     Venetian  State  Archives. 


VENICE  AND  THE  POPE 


85 


thereof  to  represent  it  to  his  Holiness  as  a  mark  of 
the  continued  readiness  of  the  Republic  to  do  what 
is  pleasing  to  him."^  The  ambassador,  Paruta,  was 
informed  of  the  decision,  and  asked  to  present  it  to  the 
Pope  as  proceeding,  in  the  words  of  the  letter,  **  from 
our  reverend  and  filial  regard  for  his  Holiness,  with 
whom  you  should  condole  in  our  name  on  his  indis- 
position ;  and  if  on  the  arrival  of  these  presents  he  is 
in  good  health,  as  with  the  grace  of  God  we  hope, 
you  shall  congratulate  him  thereupon."  His  Holiness, 
on  Paruta's  informing  him  of  the  decision,  was  highly 
gratified,  and  replied  with  "  courteous  and  kindly 
words,  saying  how  greatly  he  desired  to  remain  always 
in  harmony  with  the  Republic,  and  how  he  hoped  it 
might  not  give  him  bones  that  were  very  hard  to  gnaw, 
in  case  others  should  cast  up  to  him  that  he  yielded 
overmuch  to  the  aflfection  he  bore  it."^  Clearly  Venice 
had  no  desire  to  quarrel  with  the  Papal  Government 
just  at  that  time,  and  the  unfortunate  Bruno  was  made 
a  political  sacrifice.  The  persistency  of  the  Pope's 
representative  at  Venice  in  demanding  Bruno's  trans-  i 
ference  to  Rome,  and  the  Pope's  evident  relief  when  I 
Venice  yielded,  show  how  important  the  death  or  com- 1 
plete  recantation  of  Bruno  had  come  to  be  thought  by  1 
the  Catholic  party. 

On  the  27th  of  February  1593  Bruno  entered  the 
prison  of  the  Inquisition  at  Rome.^ 


I 


XVII 

Bruno's  behaviour  before  the  Venetian  tribunal  has 
been  regarded  as  a  signal  blot  upon  his  character.     In 

^  Doc.  25.     State  Archives. 
2  Docs.  26,  27.  3  Roman  Documents,  III. 


7 


86 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


the  course  of  his  cro$«r-^y^"^^"^<''""  he  entirelyjchanged 
his  attitude,  which  was  at-first  one  of  defiant^-self- 
confidence,  open_  confession  of  his  (philosophic)  differ- 
ences from  the  Church,  and  of  indirect  attacks  upon 
the  faith  in  his  writings ;  insistence  upon  his  right  to 
use  "the, natural  light"  of  sense_arid^Jceason,  so  long 
as  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  were  accepted  by  way 
of  faith.  Later,  he  passed  from  this  attitude  to  one  of 
anxious  and  angry  denial  of  all  charges  of  heterodoxy, 
of  trafficking  with  heretics,  and  the  like  ;  and  fiaaily_  to 
one  of  almost  cringing  submission  and  professed  readi- 
ness to  undergo  any  punishment  for  his  misdeeds.  It 
is  possible  that  he  began  by  overrating  the  tolerance 
of  the  Venetian  Republic.  In  Morosini's  circle,  of 
which  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi  was  afterwards  a  member,  he 
had  heard  enlightened  talk  and  free  criticism  of  the 
Church,  and  especially  of  Rome.  One  of  the  reputed 
sayings  of  Morosini,  "  we  were  born  Venetians  before 
we  became  Christians,"  makes  one  hesitate  to  accept  as 
quite  honest  his  evidence  before  the  tribunal.  But 
Bruno's  trial  occurred  at  a  time  when  tolerance  had 
given  way  to  diplomacy.  Had  Bruno  been  a  Venetian 
or  of  another  nationality  the  result  would  have  been 
different.  They  had  adopted  a  policy  of  friendship 
towards  the  Papal  government,  and  in  consequence 
dealt  during  that  period  much  more  severely  with 
heretical  doctrine  than  with  looseness  of  life.  Bruno 
may  have  discovered  this  in  the  course  of  his  trial,  and 
changed  his  position  in  order  to  save  his  life.  Sigwart 
comes  to  the  conclusion  that  *'  it  is  impossible  to  believe 
in  his  entire^enuineness  and  truthfulness  ;  it  is  clear 
that  he  was  now  trying  to  save  himself  and  escape  con- 
demnation by  submission."  Numberless  quotations 
might  be  made  from  his  writings  which  give  the  lie 


BRUNO'S  ORTHODOXY 


87 


to  his  denials  before  the  tribunal,  and  his  wonderful 
memory  could  not  have  allowed  them  to  slip  from  his 
mind.  However,  there  is  this  to  be  said,  that  Bruno 
had  never  regarded  himself  as  anything  but  a  Catholic  ; 
that  his  criticisms  of  that  Church  were  suggestionsu  of 
reform  from  within  rather  than^attacks— from-without ; 
that  he  had  always  retained  an  instinctive  dislike  both 
of  Calvinism  and  of  Lutheranism,  in  spite  of  his 
exaggerated  but  conventional  praises  of  Luther  at 
Wittenberg  ;  that  he  had  never  formally  compared  his 
philoso^y  with  his  traditional  faith,  but  rather  laid  that 
faith_aside  and  worked  as  a  philosopher  merely  :  hence 
his  reputation  in  Germany  as  a  manL-ofLna— religion. 
When  he  first  became  aware  that  he  was  in  danger  of 
losing  life  or  at  least-liberty,  and  his  dream  of  a  quiet 
retirement  with  freedom  of  work  in  Italy  began  to  fade, 
he  mustJiavfi-Iost-his  centre_^f_judgment,  and  had 
difficulty  in  estimating  his  own  past  doings  and  sayings 
from  the  new  standpoint.  It  would  be  unjust  to  say 
there  was  the  smallest  element  of  hypocrisy  in  his 
submission,  or  of  deceit  in  his  denial  of  guilt.     And  in 

any  case,  whatever  errors    he   committed    before the 

Venetian  tribunal  were  amply  amended  by  his  behaviour 
before  the  Roman. ^  One  thing  is  certain  :  he  never 
either  then  or  afterwards  recanted  or  in  any  sense  with- 
drew a  single  proposition  belonging  to  his  philosophical 
creed. 

To  Rome  there  went  with  him,  in  all  probability, 
copies  of  the  denunciations  and  evidence  given  at 
Venice,  the  works  which  Mocenigo  had  marked,  and 
lists  of  all  his  works,  including  that  given  by  himself, 

^  It  must  not  be  left  out  of  mind  that  documents  have  occasionally  been  tampered 
with,  and  statements  put  into  the  mouths  of  witnesses  which  are  in  substance  false, 
as  Fiorentino  hints  concerning  these  reports  of  Bruno's  trial.  But  there  is  no  special 
reason  for  doubt  here. 


1^ 


88 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


which  would  be  valuable  could  it  now  be  found.  From 
January  i6,  155J  to  January  14,  15^  there  is 
absolute  silence  concerning  Bruno,  so  far  as  discovered 
documents^.  In  184.9  ^^  opportunity  was  obtained 
of  studying  the  archives  of  the  Vatican,  but  the  student 
did  not  pass  beyond_Npvembex_JLf98  (beginning^om 
February_x6Do),  before  the  opportunity  was  over.^  The 
earliest  of  these  records  of  Bruno  is,  as  stated  above, 
of  January  14,  1599.  To  the  congregation  (of  the 
Holy  Office)  "there  were  read  eight  heretical  pro- 
positions, taken  from  the  works  of  Fra  Giordano 
Bruno  of  Nola,  apostate  of  the  order  of  Preaching 
Friars,  imprisoned  in  the  prison  of  the  Holy  Office,  and 
from  the  process  against  him,  by  the  Reverend  Fathers 
Commissario  and  Bellarmino.  It  was  decided  that 
selected  propositions  be  read  to  him,  in  order  to 
determine  whether  he  was  willing  to  abjure  them  as 
heretical.  Other  heretical  propositions  are  to  be  looked 
for  in  the  process  and  in  the  books. 

What  had  happened  all  these  years  ?  Why  was 
Bruno's  life  spared  so  long  ?  This  unusual  clemency 
on  the  part  of  the  Inquisition  points  to  a  great  difference 
in  their  estimate  of  Bruno's  importance  from  their  view 
of  that  of  other  heretics.  In  aiist  of  twenty-one^prisoners 
of  the  Inquisition  made  on  the  5th  of  April  1599,  only 
one  besides  Bnmo  had  been  for  more  than  a_year  in 
their  hands ;  the  duration  of  imprisonment  for  the 
others  could  be  counted  by  months  or -days.  As  a 
general  rule  they  were  not  slow  in  striking.  Among 
the  reasons  that  have  been  suggested  is  the  time 
required  to  go  over  the  four  processes  which  had  already 
been  drawn  up  against__Bruno,  if  the  documents  were 
extant,  and  to   obtain  and  read  his  books  and  manu- 

*  It  is  officially  stated  that  there  are  no  further  documents. 


1 

i 


k 


BELLARMINO 


89 


scripts.  This  may  be  dismissed  at  once ;  Bruno's 
books  could  not  be  scarce  tken^  although  they  became 
so  later,  and  it  could  not  require  six  years  to  find 
enough  material  to  condemn  him  if  that  were  desired. 
Another  suggestion  is  that  Bruno  was  a  Dominican,  and 
the  whole  order  was  concerned  in  procuring  his 
recantation,  rather  than  have  the  scandal  which  his 
death  in  apostasy  would  cause.  The  historians  of  the 
order  afterwards  denied  that  Bruno,  if  really  put  to  death, 
had  been  one  of  their  order — "  Had  he  been  one  of  us  he 
would  have  remained  with  us  et  convictu  et  sensibus^  ^ 
More  probable  is  the  idea  that  Pope  Clement  had  some 
favour  for  Bruno,  who  had  intended  to  dedicate  a  book 
to  him,  and  whose  skilful  pen  and  biting  tongue  he 
hoped  to  win  over  to  the  side  of  the  Church.  The  book 
on  the  Seven  Liberal  Arts  may  have  been  actually  com- 
pleted, and  may  have  presented  a  modus  vivendi  between 
religious  authority  and  philosophic  freedom,  as  Brunn- 
hofer  suggests.  If  the  hope  of  winning  him  over  was 
really  held,  it  is  not  likely  that  they  refrained  in  his 
case,  any  more  than  in  Campanella's,  from  the  use  of 
torture. 

Bellarmino,  a  Jesuit,  to  whom  along  with  Com- , 
missario  the  study  of  Bruno's  works  and  of  the  processes 
had  been  entrusted,  was  one-jof  the  most  learned  pre- 
lates of  the  day,  a  keen-flnd^readyxontroversialist,  in 
spite  of  his  reputed  love  of  peace,  and  a  skilful  writer 
of  many  apologetic__aiKL_pQlemical  works.  Beneath  the 
surface  of  enlightenment  there  lay  hidden  a  nature  of 
intense  bigotry  :  it  was  he__who  decided  that  Copet- 
^/nicanism_was_ajieresy  ;  he  played  a  part-later  in  the 
process  against  Gdjlei,  and  in  the  attack  upon  Fra  Paolo 
Sarpi ;  through  his  agency  the  Platonist  Patrizzi  was 

^  Wagner's  introduction  to  Bruno's  Opere  Italiane^  p.  7. 


/     I 


/ 


i 


90 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


induced  to  retract  his  heresies,  and  his  worJcs  were 
placed  along  with  those  of  Xelesius,  the-_apQStk  of 
NaturalisnLjapon  iheJndex. 
^^^m^  On  the  4th  of  February  the  congregation  again 
considered  Bruno's  case,  he  having  in  the  interval  made 
some  protest  against  the  eight  proposition&^-selected. 
His  Holiness  decreed  that  it  should  be  intimated  to 
him  by  the  Reverend  Fathers  Bellarmino  and  Com- 
missario,  "  that  the  propositions  are  heretical,  and  not 
only  now  or  lately  declared  heretical,  but  according  to 
the  most  ancient  Fathgrs  of  the  Church  and  the 
Apostolic  See.  If  he  shall  admit  them  as  such,  it  is 
well,  but  if  not,  a  term  of  forty  days  shall  be  set  him." 
What  were  the  eight  propositions  ?  It  is  of  course 
almost  impossible  to  say,  but  probably  Tocco  ^  is  right 
in  suggesting  that  they  were  neither  any  of  those  already 
withdrawn  in  Venice  (as  held  "philosophically,"  but 
not  theologically),  nor  any  of  the  charges  of  Mocenigo 
which  Bruno  had  so  vigorously  denied,  but  actual 
admissions  common  to  his  works  and  to  the  confessions 
he  had  made  at  Venice — for  example,  propositions  as  to 
(i)  the  distinction  of  persons  in  God ;  (2)  the  Incar- 
nation of  the  Word  ;  (3)  the  nature  of  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
(4)  the  Divinity  of  Christ ;  (5,  6,  and  j)  the  necessity, 
eternity^  and  infinity  of  Nature  ;  (8)  the  Transmigra- 
tion of  Souls.  It  must  have  been  in  the  lastibur  of 
these,  or  some  similar  propositions,  that  Bruno-stood 
fast  by  his  newiiaith. 

*  Cmferenzay  p.  86. 


i 


,^ 


t 


1 


THE  TRIBUNAL  IN  ROME 


XVIII 


91 


He  was  granted  more  than  forty  days,  however,  or  December 
the  period  was  renewed,  for  it  was  not  until  the  2ist  of  ^''  '^^^* 
December  of  that  year  that  the  patience  or  perse- 
verance of  the  Inquisition  began  to  be  exhausted.  On 
that  date — ^the  next  on  which  there  is  any  record  of 
Bruno — the  congregation  again  reopened  the  case.  In 
a  rough  copy  of  the  report  which  has  been  found 
Bruno  is  quoted  as  saying.  "  that  he  neither  ought  nor 
will  recant,  that  he  has  nothing  tp_  recant,  no  matter 
for  recantation,  does  not  JaiawL_what_iieL_oiight_to 
recant."  In  the  fair  copy  the  names  of  the  members 
of  the  tribunal  are  given.  At  their  head  was  Cardinal 
Madruzzi,  and  among  them  were  the  fanatical  San 
Severin,  embittered  by  his  failure  to  secure  the  Papacy 
(he  had  gone  so  far  as  to  choose  his  name — Clement — 
when  his  rival  was  elected  in  1592,  and  became 
Clement  VIIL),  the  man  who  figures  in  history  as 
having_jleclared  St.  Bartholomew's  *'a  glorious__day:,  a 
day  of  joyjOT-Catholics  "  ;  the  ascetic  Sfondrati ;  the 
intolerant  Borghese,  afterwards  Pope  Paul  V.  ;  and  the 
learned  Bellarmino.  After  hearing  Bruno  on  his 
defence,  it  was  decided  among  them  that  Hippolyte 
Maria,  general  of  the  Dominican  order,  and  Paul  of 
Mirandula,  their  vicar,  "  should  deal  with  Bruno,  show 
him  what  had  to  be  abjured,  that  he  might  confess  his 
errors,  amend  his  ways,  and  agree  to  abjure  ;  and  should 
try  to  bring  him  to  the  point  as  soon  as  possible." 
Bruno,  however,  as  they  reported,  stood  firm,  denying 
that  he  had  made  any  heretical  statements,  and  insist- 
ing that  he  had  been  misunderstood  by  the  ministers  of 
the   Holy  Office,  and  by  his  Holiness ;   and  at   the 


n 


I 


Vi 


\' 


92 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


SCHOPP'S  LETTER 


93 


same  meeting  (20th  of  January  1600)  a  memorial  from 
Bruno  to  the  Pope,  who  was  present,  having  been 
opened  but  not  read,  it  was  decreed  "that  further 
measures  be  proceeded  to,  servatis  servandisy  that 
sentence  be  passed,  and  that  the  said  Friar  Giordano  be 
handed  over  to  the  secular  authority."  On  the  8th  of 
February  this  decision  was  carried  into  effect,  and  he 
was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Governor  of  Rome, 
with  the  usual  recommendation  that  he  be  punished 
"with  as  great  clemency  as  possible,  and  without 
effusion  of  blood  " — the  formula  for  burning  at  the 
stake.  A  witness  of  the  passing  of  the  sentence  was 
Gaspar  Schopp,  a  youthful  but  none  the  less  fanatical 
convert  from  the  reformed  religion  to  Catholicism.  It 
was  a  year  of  jubilee  in  Rome.  Pope  Clement  was 
possessed  of  great  diplomatic  gifts,  he  had  gained  the 
submission  of  Henry  IV.  of  France,  had  united  France 
again  with  Spain,  and  detached  it  from  England,  and 
had  quieted  or  lulled  numerous  disputes  within  the 
Church  itself.  Rome  was  therefore  crowded  with 
visitors,  more  so  than  usual  even  in  a  year  of  jubilee. 
Of  the  distinguished  foreigners  paying  their  homage  to 
Clement,  Gaspar  Schopp  was  one  ;  facile  of  tongue  as  of 
pen,  he  quickly  gained  the  Pope's  favour,  was  made  a 
knight  of  St.  Peter,  and  a  count  of  the  Sacred  Palace. 
This  adept  at  coat-turning  sent  from  Rome  a  letter 
to  Conrad  Rittershausen,  which  was  for  long  the  sole 
authority  for  Bruno's  death,  but  was  held  by  Catholic 
writers  on  Bruno  to  be  a  forgery.  In  the  face  of  the 
solid  arguments  and  evidence  forthcoming,  Catholic 
reviewers  even  at  the  present  day  deny  that  Bruno  was 
put  to  death.  It  is  quite  needless  at  this  date  to  enter 
into  the  question  of  the  authenticity  of  the  letter,  its 
assertion  of  Bruno's  punishment  being  the  sole  ground 


f^ 


h 
I* 


^ 


on  which  that  was  ever  doubted.^  We  learn  from  it 
that  Bruno  was  publicly  reported  in  Rome  to  have 
been  burned  as  a  Lutheran;  and  one  of  the  aims  of 
Schopp  in  writing — which  he  did  on  the  very  day  of 
Bruno's  death — was  to  prove  the  falsity  of  this  report. 
He  had  heard  the  sentence  pronounced,  and  its  damna- 
tory clauses  he  gives  as  the  following: — (i)  Bruno's 
early  doubts  concerning  and  ultimate  denial  of  the 
Transubstantiation,  and  of  the  virgin  conception  ;  (2) 
the  publication  in  London  of  the  Bestia  Trionfanti, 
which  was  held  to  mean  the  Pope  ;  (3)  the  "  horrible 
absurdities"  taught  in  his  Latin  writings,  such  as 
the  infinite  number  of  worlds,  the  transmigration  of 
souls,  the  lawfulness  and  utility  of  magic,  the  Holy 
Spirit  described  as  merely  the  soul  of  the  world,  the 
eternity  of  the  world,  Moses  spoken  of  as  an  Egyptian 
working  his  miracles  by  magic — in  which  he  excelled 
other  Egyptians — and  as  having  invented  the  decalogue, 
the  Holy  Scriptures  a  fable,  the  salvation  of  the  devil,  the 
Hebrews  alone  descended  from  Adam  and  Eve,  other 
peoples  from  the  men  created  the  previous  day  ;  Christ 
not  God,  but  an  illustrious  magician,  who  deceived 
men,  and  on  that  account  was  properly  hanged  {im- 
piccato)  and  not  crucified  ;  the  prophets  and  apostles 
corrupt  men,  magicians,  who  were  for  the  most  part 
hanged.  "  In  fine,  I  should  never  have  done  were  I  to 
pass  in  review  all  the  monstrosities  he  has  advanced, 
whether  in  his  books  or  by  word  of  mouth.  In  one 
word,  there  is  not  an  error  of  the  pagan  philosophers 
or  of  our  heretics,  ancient  or  modern,  that  he  did  not 
sustain."  The  delay  at  Rome,  it  is  suggested,  was 
due  to  Bruno's  constant  promises  to  retract,  but  he  was 

^  For  the  part  of  this  letter  relative  to  Bruno,  v.  Bartholmess  (with  French  trans- 
lation), Berti  and  Frith. 


94 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


BRUNO'S  DEATH 


95 


I 


I 


only  putting  off  his  judges,  and  the  duration  of  his 
imprisonment  is  given  (officially  ?)  at  "  about  two 
years."  It  is  clear  that  on  the  occasion  of  the  sentence 
being  read  the  denouncements  of  Mocenigo,  as  well  as 
all  later  evidences  dragged  from  Bruno's  own  lips,  or 
picked  up  from  his  books,  were  recited  for  the  benefit, 
presumably,  of  the  visitors  present.  When  the  sentence 
was  pronounced  Bruno  was  degraded,  excommunicated, 
and  handed  over  to  the  secular  magistrates,  as  we  have 
seen.  The  whole  letter  is  redeemed  by  the  reply  of 
Bruno  to  his  judges — *'  Greater  perhaps  is  your  fear  in 
pronouncing  my  sentence  than  mine  in  hearing  it.'* 
These  strong  words  are  almost  the  last  we  have  of 
Bruno.  At  the  stake  he  turned  his  eyes  angrily  away 
from  the  crucifix  held  before  him.  And  so,  adds 
Schopp,  "  he  was  burned  and  perished  miserably,  and  is 
gone  to  tell,  I  suppose,  in  those  other  worlds  of  his 
fancy,  how  the  blasphemous  and  impious  are  dealt  with 
by  the  Romans !  "  It  is  pleasant  to  know  that  when 
Lord  Digby  was  English  ambassador  to  Spain  he 
caused  Gaspard  Schopp  to  be  horse-whipped.^  For  the 
degradation  of  Bruno,  as  we  learn  from  the  Register 
of  the  Depository  -  General  of  the  Pontificate,  two 
scudi  of  gold  were  paid  to  the  Bishop  of  Sidonia. 
The  memorable  words  he  uttered  at  the  time  were 
reported  by  another  than  Schopp,  the  Count  of  Venti- 
miglia,  who  was  a  pupil  of  Bruno,  and  present  at  his 
death  (perhaps  at  the  sentence  also)  —  "You  who 
sentence  me  are  in  greater  fear  than  I  who  am  con- 
demned " ;  and  before  his  death  Bruno  recommended 

*  The  letter  was  trantlated  into  English  by  La  Roche,  Memoirs  of  Literature,  vol. 
ii.,  and  by  Toland,  Misc.  H^orksy  vol.  i.  Schopp  refers  to  Bruno's  death  m  a  work 
published  in  1611  (;.*,  several  years  before  the  letter  itself  was  published)  as  having 
occurred  ten  years  earlier  (Berti,  p.  lo). 


'k\ 


Ventimiglia  "to  follow  in   his  glorious  footsteps,   to 
avoid  prejudices  and  errors."  ^ 

In  the  Avvisi  and  Ritorni  of  Rome,  which  repre- 
sented, however  meagrely,  the  newspapers  of  the  time, 
two  references  to  Bruno  appeared,  with  short  garbled 
accounts  of  him.     In  one  he  was  spoken  of  as  a  Friar 
of  S.  Dominic,  of  Nola,  burnt  alive  in  the  Campo  di 
Fiori,  an  obstinate  heretic,  with  his  tongue  tied^  owing 
to  the  brutish  words  he  uttered,  refusing  to  listen  to 
the  comforters  or  others  :  in  another  he  was  reported 
as  saying  that  he  died  a  martyr,  and  willingly,  and  that 
his  soul  would  ascend  with  the  smoke  to  Paradise,  "  but 
now  he  knows  whether  he  spoke  the  truth ! "     The 
fullest  account,  however,  of  his  death,  and  one  which 
should  put  to  rest  all  doubts  on  the  subject,  is  in  the 
reports   of  the  Company  of  St.  John  the  Beheaded. 
This  company — called  also  the  Company  of  Mercy  or 
Pity  [della  misericordia) — was  instituted  for  the  pur- 
pose of  accompanying  condemned  heretics  to  the  place 
of  death,  encouraging  them  to  repent,  to  die  with  con- 
trition for  their  sins.     The  priests  bore  tablets  painted 
with  images,  which  were  presented  to  the  condemned 
to  kiss,  from  time  to  time,  till  the  faggots  were  lit. 
Even  the  executioner  was  called  to  their  aid  occasion- 
ally, and  the  cruellest  methods  adopted  to  produce  at 
least  the  appearance  of  kissing,  and  so  of  repentance. 
In  obstinate  cases,  on  the  other  hand,  the  tongue  was 
tied,  so  that  the  heretic  could  not  speak  to  the  people. 
When  the  sufferers  repented  before  death  the  Company 
took  note  of  their  last  wishes,  and  they  were  burkd  in 
the  tombs  of  the  Cloister  donated  for  that  purpose  by 
Innocent  VIII.,  but  if  they  were  impenitent  no  will  was 
allowed,  and  the  ashes  were  abandoned  to  the  winds  of 

^  Berti,  p.  326,  n.  i. 


y 


i 


/ll ' 


/ 


96 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


( 


PART 


GROUNDS  FOR  HIS  DEATH 


97 


|r   ■  ■ 


heaven.  This  must  have  happened  in  Bruno's  case,  for 
there  is  no  mention  of  will  or  of  burial  in  the  report. 
Its  date  is  Thursday,  i6th  February  (an  error  for  17th), 
and  it  reads  thus  :  ^ — "  At  the  second  hour  of  the  night 
it  was  intimated  to  the  Company  that  an  impenitent 
was  to  be  executed  in  the  morning  ;  so  at  the  sixth  hour 
the  comforters  and  the  chaplain  met  at  St.  Ursula,  and 
went  to  the  prison  of  the  Tower  of  Nona.  After  the 
customary  prayers  in  the  chapel  there  was  consigned  to 
them  the  under-mentioned  condemned  to  death,  viz. 
Giordano,  son  of  the  late  Giovanni  Bruno,  an  Apostate 
Friar  of  Nola  in  the  Kingdom,  an  impenitent  heretic. 
With  all  charity  our  brethren  exhorted  him  to  repent, 
and  there  were  called  two  Fathers  of  St.  Dominic,  two 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  two*  of  the  new  Church,  and  ^ 
one  of  St.  Jerome,  who,  with  all  affection  and  much 
learning,  showed  him  his  error,  but  he  remained  to  the 
end  in  his  accursed  obstinacy,  his  brain  and  intellect 
seething  with  a  thousand  errors  and  vanities.  So,  per- 
severing in  his  obstinacy,  he  was  led  by  the  servants  of 
justice  to  the  Campo  dei  Fiori,  there  stripped,  bound 
to  a  stake,  and  burnt  alive,  attended  always  by  our 
Company  chanting  the  litanies,  the  comforters  exhort- 
ing him  up  to  the  last  point  to  abandon  his  obstinacy, 
but  in  it  finally  he  ended  his  miserable,  unhappy  life." 

So  Bruno  passed  away  ;  his  ashes  were  scattered,  his 
name  almost  forgotten.  His  death  was  the  merest 
incident  amid  the  great  doings  of  the  year  of  Jubilee. 
None  of  the  many  bishops  and  cardinals  and  dis- 
tingnished  visitors  in  Rome,  with  the  single  exception 
of  Gaspard  Schopp,  makes  any  mention  of  the  occur- 
rence or  of  the  man  ;  and  Schopp  did  so  only  because 

1  Pognisi,  Giordano  Brtmo  e  PArchitno  di  San  Giovanni  DecoUato^T oxino,  1 891, and 
voL  iii.  of  Op,  Lat.  introi. 


he  wished  to  point  a  moral  from  the  case.  During 
his  seven  years'  imprisonment,  Bruno  had  almost  passed 
out  of  the  short-lived  memory  of  his  fellowmen. 
Burnings  of  heretics  were  not  infrequent  spectacles, 
and  required  no  special  notice.  Three  years  later 
(August  7,  1603)  all  his  works  were  placed  upon  the 
Index,  and  consequently  became  rare.  They  were 
classed  with  other  dangerous  works  on  the  black  arts, 
and  Bruno's  name  became  one  to  avoid. 

This  was  the  death  which  in  happier  days  he  had 
foreseen  for  himself  should  he  ever  enter  Italy  :— 
'^  Torches,  fifty  or  a  hundred,  will  not  fail  him,  even 
though  the  march  be  at  mid-day,  should  it  be  his  fate 
to  die  in  Roman  Catholic  country."  What  were  the 
real  grounds  on  which  his  condemnation  and  sentence 
were  founded  ?  The  alleged  grounds  we  have  already 
seen,  but  they  cannot  have  formed  the  actual  motive 
of  the  Pope  and  the  Inquisition.  Neither  at  Venice 
nor  in  Rome  can  much  weight  have  been  laid  upon  the 
evidence  of  the  weakling  Mocenigo.  The  Cardinals 
cannot  have  imagined  that  Bruno  would  ever  open  his 
heart  or  even  speak  freely  to  so  shallow  a  nature — so 
utterly  different  in  all  things  from  himself.  The  mere 
fact  of  his  having  left  his  order  was  not  enough,  nor 
his  refusal  to  return  to  it,  nor  were  his  heretical 
opinions — defended  as  they  might  be,  and  as  Aristotle's 
own  teaching  had  to  be  defended  in  the  Church,  by 
the  subterfuge  of  the  twofold  truth.  Had  his  chief 
fault  been,  as  some  have  thought,  his  praises  of  Elizabeth, 
Henry  III.,  Henry  of  Navarre,  Luther,  Duke  Julius, 
and  other  enemies,  real  or  supposed,  of  the  Church, 
he  would  not  so  long  have  occupied  the  prisons  of 
the  Inquisition.  Probably  hi§  earliest  biographer, 
Bartholmess,  was  right  in  suggesting  that  Bruno  was 


H 


/  ( 


98 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


I 


i' 


regarded  as  a  heresiarch— he  is  several  times  so  described 
in   the  documents— the   founder   of  a  new   sect,  the 
leader  of  an  incipient  but  dangerous  crusade  agamst 
the  Church.     It  was  as  the  apostle  of  a  new  religion, 
founded  on  a  new  intuition,  a  new  conception  of  the 
universe,  and  of  its  relation  to  God,  that  Bruno  died. 
Had  he  been  won  over  to  the  side  of  the  Church,  his 
mind  conquered  and  his  spirit  crushed  by  the  long 
years  of  waiting,  and  possibly  the  days  and  nights  of 
physical  torture,  it  would  have  been  a  signal  triumph 
for  the  papacy.     But  the  heart  which  had  trembled 
1  at  the  beginning,  when  the  sudden  gulf  yawned  before 
it,  grew  more  and  more  steadfast  as  its  trials  increased. 
We  can  only  re-echo  Carriere's  words,  that  in  the  soul 
of  such  a  man,  who  after  eight  years'  confinement  in 
the  prisons  of  the  Inquisition  remained  so  firm,  "  the 
governing  motives  must  have  been  an  eternal  and  in- 
violable impulse  towards  Truth,  an   unbending  sense 
of  right,  an  irrepressible  and  free  enthusiasm."     That 
for  which  he  died  was  not  any  special  cult  or  any 
special   interpretation   of  Scripture  or   history,  but  a 
broad  freedom  of  thought  with  the  right  of  free  inter- 
pretation of  history  and  of  nature,  which  in  his  own 
case  was  founded  upon  a  philosophy,  one  of  the  noblest 
that  has  been  thought  out  by  man. 

The  fear  of  death  was  no  part  of  this  philosophy ; 
what  we  call  death,  it  teaches,  is  a  mere  change  of  state, 
of  "  accidents  "—no  real  substance,  such  as  the  human 
spirit  is,  can  ever  die.  One  of  the  highest  values  of 
his  philosophy  he  thought  to  be  this,  that  it  freed  man 
from  the  fear  of  death,  "  which  is  worse  than  death 
itself."  Strikingly  apposite  to  his  own  fate  is  a 
passage  from  Ovid^  that  he  quotes— 


>  Metam,  xv. 


I  BRUNO'S  EPITAPH  99 

O*  genus  attonitum  gelidae  formidine  mortis, 
Quid  Styga,  quid  tenebras,  et  nomina  vana  timetis, 
Materiam  vatum,  falsique  pericula  mundi  ? 
Corpora  sive  rogus  flamma,  seu  tabe  vetustas 
Abstulcrit,  mala  posse  pati  non  ulla  putetis  ; 
Morte  carent  animae  domibus  habitantque  receptae. 

Bruno  himself  lived  within  the  sphere  of  which  he 
writes  in  the  Spaccio,  "  surrounded  by  the  impregnable 
wall  of  true  philosophic  contemplation,  where  the  peace- 
fulness  of  life  stands  fortified  and  on  high,  where  truth 
is  open,  where  the  necessity  of  the  Eternity  of  all  sub- 
stantial things  is  clear,  where  nought  is  to  be  feared 
but  to  be  deprived  of  human  perfection  and  justice." 
His  finest  epitaph  is  to  be  found  in  his  own  words,  "  I 
have  fought :  that  is  much — victory  is  in  the  hands  of 
fate.  Be  that  as  it  may  with  me,  this  at  least  future 
ages  will  not  deny  of  me,  be  the  victor  who  may, — 
that  I  did  not  fear  to  die,  yielded  to  none  of  my 
fellows  in  constancy,  and  preferred  a  spirited  death  to  a 

cowardly  life."  ^ 

No  end  in  history  is  more  tragic,  when  looked  at  in  | 
all  its  circumstances,  than  that  of  Giordano  Bruno. 
First  a  life  of  endless,  unresting  struggle,  striving 
through  years  of  wandering,  in  many  lands,  to  over- 
come prejudice  and  outworn  authority,  to  proclaim  and 
urge  on  unwilling  minds  the  splendid  gospel  which 
inspired  himself,  and  by  which  for  a  brief  time  he  may 
have  thought  to  supplant  the  old  ;  now  admired  of 
kings,  and  sought  after  by  the  highest  in  the  land, 
at  another  time  a  hunted  pedlar  of  literary  wares  ;  then 
eight  years  in  darkness  from  the  world,  with  shame  or 
death  to  choose  for  release.  The  choice  made  for  the 
nobler  end,  the  mockeries  of  religion  he  had  detested 
and  reviled  pursued  him  to  the  end— to  the  very  stake  ; 
and   the   funeral  pyre  of  this   martyr  for   liberty  of 


46 


'{ 


\ 


lOO 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


thought,  for  the  new  light  of  science,  became  a  spectacle 
for  the  gay  and  thoughtless  sight-seers  of  the  Roman 
Jubilee  year,  to  all  of  whom,  one  sad  disciple  excepted, 
it  was  but  another  "  damnable  and  obstinate  heretic 
who  was  on  this  earth,  for  that  brief  speU,  foretasting 
his  eternal  doom. 


!|f       |/' 


XIX 
It  is  not  easy  to  characterise  so  complex  a  personality 
as  Bruno  undoubtedly  was.     The  fiery  passionate  blood 
of  the  south  ran  in  his  veins,  the  joy  of  a  strong-flow- 
ing life  was  in  his  heart  and  brain.     A  child  of  Nature, 
he  was  almost  from  the  first,  "  cribbed,  cabined,  and 
confined "   by  the  stone  walls  of  the  cloister,  as  his 
mind  was  hampered  by  the  laws  and  dogmas  of  the 
Church.^     From  Nature  herself  he  drew  his  first  lessons. 
While  his  fellows  taught  that  Nature  was  a  thing  of  evil, 
he  learnt  to  love  her,  and  to  turn  to  her  rather  than  to 
the  authority  of  man  for  instruction.    He  believed  also, 
as  very  few  of  his  age  did,  in  the  power  of  human 
thought  to  penetrate  the  secret  nature  of  things,  to 
reach  even  to  the  deepest   and  highest  reality,  so  far 
as  that  can  be  known  by  another  than  itself.     Trust- 
ing  to  his   own   mind,  to  sense  and  reason,  for  his 
theory  of  the  world,  he  found  himself  opposed  Jn^ 
essentials  to  the  general  thought  of  the  time. 

His  purpose  from  the  first  was  to  use  his  own  eyes, 
to  discover  truth  for  himself,  and  to  hold  fast  what- 
ever seemed  to  be  right,  irrespective  of  the  opinions 
of  others.  "  From  the  beginning  I  was  convinced 
of  the  vanity  of  the  cry  which  summons  us  to  close 
or  lower  the   eyes  that  were  given  to  us  open  and 

1  Of.  Her.  Fur,  623.  20  fF. 


INDEPENDENCE  OF  MIND 


lOI 


upward-looking.      Seeing,  I  do' not   pretend   not   to 
see,  nor.  fear  to  profess  it  openly  ;  and  as  there  is  con- 
tinual war  between  light  and  darkness,  knowledge  and 
ignorance,  everywhere  have  I  met  with  hatred,  abuse,   \ 
clamour,  insult  (ay,  not  without  risk  to  my  life)  from 
the  brute  and  stupid  multitude  ;  but  guided  by  the  hand . 
of  truth   and  the  divine  light,  I   have  overcome  it." 
Not  that  he  really  formed  his  theory  by  induction  from 
sense-data,  or  by  deductive  reasoning  ;  it  was  rather  an  > 
inspiration,  or  an  intuition,  springing  fi  om  his  tempera- 
ment, to  which  optimism  was  as  necessary  as  pessimism 
repellent ;  and  there  were  numerous  suggestions  of  it 
both   in   Bruno's   immediate  predecessors,  Copernicus 
and  the  rest,  and  in  eariier  thinkers.     Bruno   himself 
found  it,  as   he    thought,  in    the   more   ancient   pre- 
Aristotelian    philosophies.      But,    however     obtained, 
this  philosophy  satisfied  even  his  boundless  enthusiasm, 
and  it  became  the  chief  motive  of  his  life  to  convince 
others  of  its  truth,  inspire  them  with  the  same  enthusi- 
asm, and  endow  them  with  the  joyous  freedom  of  life 
of  which  it  seemed  to  him  to  be  the  source.     His  I 
philosophy,  in  other  words,  became  his    religion,  his 
inward  religion, — Catholicism  remaining  a  mere  habit, 
a  set  of  formulae  to  which  he  was  indifferent,  to  most 
of  which  he  was  willing  to  subscribe  because  he  had  not 
questioned  them. 

His  perfect  self-confidence,  and  belief  in  the  power  Authority. 
of  human  reason  (especially  his  own  reason)  to  penetrate 
the  mysteries  of  things,  was  accompanied  by  contempt 
for  the  argument  from  authority  in  philosophy,  con- 
tempt for  humility,  submission,  obedience  in  the 
speculative  life.  To  believe  with  the  many  because 
they  were  many  was  the  mark  of  a  slave.  Bruno, 
before  Bacon,  before  Descartes,  insisted  on  the  need  of 


j^* 


102 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


i   I 


first  of  all  clearing  the  mind  from  all  prejudices    all 
traditional  beliefs  that  rested  on  authority  alone,  before 
attempting  the  pursuit  of  truth.     They  were  impedi- 
ments-burdens that  delayed  or  prevented  the  attain- 
ment of  the  goal.     The  whole  of  the  Cahalax^  a  satire 
on  the  quietistic  attitude,  the  standpoint  of  ignorant 
and  ignoring  faith,  which  regards  sense  and  reason  as 
alike   misleading    and   unnecessary  guides,    for  which 
science  and  philosophy  are  mere  troubhngs  of  the  still 
waters  of  life.     "  Oh,  holy  asinity  "  !  one  of  the  sonnets 
begins,   "oh,   holy   ignorance,   holy   folly   and    pious 
devotion,  which  alone  makest  souls  so  good  that  human 
wit  and  zeal  can  no  further  go  ;  strenuous  watchful- 
ness, in  whatsoever  art,  or  invention,  or  contemplation 
of  the  wise,  arrives  not  to  the  heaven  wherein  thou 
"buUdest  thy  mansion.     Of  what  avail  is  your  study,  ye 
curious  ones,  your  desire  to  know  how  nature  works, 
whether  the  stars  are   earth,  or  fire  or  sear      Holy 
asinity  for  that  cares  not,  but  with  folded  hands  and 
bended  knees  awaits  fi-om  God  its  fate." ' 
|r       Having  already  that  touch  of  vanity  in  his  character 
I  which  the  possession  of  a  quick  mind  among  sluggards  or 
'  dullards  almost  inevitably  entails,  he  was  thrown,  by  his 
attitude  towards  nature  and  the  Church,  more  and  more 
back  upon  himself.    At  every  step  he  met  with  a  leaden 
uncomprehending,  but  dogged  opposition,  until  he  seemed 
to  himself  the  one  seeing  man  in  a  world  of  the  blind. 
At  times  this  belief  was  expressed  only  too  emphatically ; 
the  reader  of  Bruno  must  expect  to  find  a  passage  in 
almost  every  work  pointing  out  that  that  work  is  the 
best  of  its  kind,  and  dispenses  with  all  others  on  the 
subject ;  whUe  his  opponents  in  any  theory  are  bedaubed 
with  epithets  to  which  the  amenities  of  modern  party 

»  Lag.  564.  25. 


I  DIFFICULTY :  BRUNO'S  MISSION      103 

strife  are  politeness  itself.^    Boundless  was  his  confidence 
in  himself,  in  his  power  of  discerning  truth,  and  in  his 
ability  to  overcome  all  difficulties  in  the  way  of  its 
discovery.     "Difficulty,"   he  writes  in  the  Cena,  "is 
ordained  to  check  poltroons.      Things  ordinary  and 
easy  are  for  the  vulgar,  for  ordinary  people.     But  rare, 
heroic,  divine  men  pass  along  this  way  of  difficulty,  that 
necessity  may  be  constrained  to  yield  them  the  palm  of 
immortality.     Although  it  may  not  be  possible  to  come 
so  far  as  to  gain  the  prize,  run  your  race  nevertheless, 
do  your  hardest  in  what  is  of  so  great  importance,  strive 
to  your  last  breath.      It  is  not  only  he  who  arrives 
at  the  goal  that  is  praised,  but  also  whoever  dies  no 
coward's  or  poltroon's  death  ;  he  casts  the  fault  of  his 
loss  and  of  his  death  upon  the  back  of  fate,  and  shows 
the  world  that  he  has  come  to  such  an  end  by  no  defect 
of  himself,  but  by  error  of  fortune."  ^ 

His  outward  fortunes  left  Bruno  indifferent ;  it  was 
the  opposition  to  his  phUosophy  that  embittered  him, 
and  excited  the  magnificent  invectives  scattered  every- 
where through  his  works.     Of  his  own  mission  Bruno 
had  the  highest  conception :   ^'  The  Nolan  has  set  free 
the  human  mind,  and  its  knowledge,  that  was  shut  up 
within  the  narrow  prison-house  of  the  atmosphere  (the 
troubled  air),  whence  it  could  only  with  difficulty,  as 
through  chinks,  see  the  far  distant  stars  ;  its  wings  were 
clipped,  that  it  might  not  fly  and  pass  through  the  veil 
of  clouds,  and  see  that  which  is  really  to  be  found  there. 
...  But  he  in  the  eye  of  sense  and  reason,  with  the 
key  of  unwearied  inquiry,  has  opened  those  prison- 
doors  of  the  truth  which  man  might  open,  laid  bare 
nature  that  was  covered  over  and  veiled  from  sight, 

1  E,g,  cf.  De  Umhrti,  p.  lo  ff.,  and  Magia  Math.,  Op.  Lat.  iii.  5.  506. 

2  Lag.  141.  5. 


i.^-~- 


1 


I II 


104 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


given  eyes  to  the  moles,  enlightened  the  blind  .  .  . 
loosened  the  tongue  of  the  mute,  that  could  not  and 
dared  not  express  their  inmost  feelings." '     It  was  not 
to  the  many  that  he  spoke,  however ;  there  was  little 
in  his  heart  of  that  love  for  his  fellowman  that  was  so 
charming  a  trait  in  Spinoza,  with  all  the  latter's  desire 
for  solitude,  and  under  all  his  persecutions.     Bruno, 
whether  a  son  of  the  people  or  not,  had  never  the 
slightest  respect  for  that  body.     We  have  akeady  seen 
what    opinion    he   formed  of  the   English   populace, 
and  he  held  a  similar  view   of  the  plebs   in   general 
—  ^'Rogatus    tumet,   Pulsatus    rogat,   Pugnis    concisus 
adoratr   he    quotes    (or    misquotes)^    concerning   it. 
Distrust  of  the   natural   man  he   had  imbibed  along 
with  the  teaching  of  the  Church,  and  doubt  as  to  his 
capacity    for   receiving   or   understanding    the    truth. 
Those  who  have  acquired  the  truth  that  he  has  to 
teach   need   not,   he   writes,   communicate   it    to    all, 
"  unless  they  will  see  what  swine  can  do  with  pearls, 
and  will  gather  those  fruits  of  their  zeal  and  labour 
which  usually  spring  from  rash  and  foolish  ignorance, 
together  with  presumption  and  incivility,  its  constant 
and  trusty  companions.'* «     Speaking  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  necessity  of  all  human  events,  as  determined  and 
foreseen  by  God,  and  its  coincidence  with  true  liberty, 
he  shows  how  theologians  and  philosophers  have  held  it, 
but  have  refrained  from  communicating  it  to  the  vulgar, 
by  whom  it  could  not  be  understood,  who  would  use  it 
as  an  excuse  for  giving  rein  to  their  passions.     "  Faith 
is  required  for  the  instruction  of  the  fkbs,  that  must 
be  governed ;  demonstration  (truth)  for  the  wise,  the 
contemplative,  that   know  how  to  govern  themselves 
and  others."  *    So  speculation  as  to  the  future  life  must 

1  Ctnm,  Lag.  125.  12  ff.        ^  j^vcnal,  i.  3.  300.         *  Lag.  129.  7.       '  Lag.  318.  5. 


\ 


\ 


THE  PEDANT 


105 


be  kept  from  them,  for  it  is  "with  the  greatest  difficulty 
that  they  can  be  restrained  from  vice  and  impelled  to 
virtuous  acts  through  their  faith  in  eternal  punishment : 
what  would  become  of  them  if  they  were  persuaded  of 
some  lighter  condition  regulating  the  rewards  of  heroic 
and  humane  deeds,  the  punishment  of  wickedness  and 
sin?"'  He  was  an  "aristocrat  of  learning,"— only 
the  wise  should  have  the  government  of  the  world ; 
the  people  were  unfit  to  judge  either  of  truth  or  of 

men.  ,  . 

Along  with  this  distrust  of  the  vulgar  went  a  far  Pedantry. 

more   intense   dislike   of   the   kind    of  learning   they 
admired,  and  of  the  type  of  scholar,  the  pedant,  that 
most  appealed  to  them.     The  minds  of  the  vulgar,  it 
seemed  to  him,  were  more  readily  turned  by  sophisms, 
by  the  appearances  on  the  surface  of  things,  than  by  the 
truth  that  is  hidden  in  their  substance,  and  is  indeed 
their  substance  itself; '  and  the  man— too  frequent  in  the 
Italian,  and  generally  in  the  learned  world  of  those  days 
—most  apt  to  veil  a  real  ignorance  by  a  pretended 
knowledge,   by   a  show   of    externals,   by   appeal  to 
authorities  with  whom  he  had  himself  no  acquaintance, 
was  the  pedant.     Bruno  himself  was  not  without  that 
touch  of  vanity  which  led  him,  like  others,  to  mass 
together  quotations  and  phrases  from  Latin  and  even 
from  Greek  writers ;  to  point  an  argument  by  forced 
analogies  from  classical  mythology  ;  to  heap  up  refer- 
ences, in  support  of  his  theories,  to  the  Neoplatonists, 
to  the  mystics,  to  the  Cabbalah,  to  the  older  Greek 
philosophers:  these  adornments  were  quite  in  the  fashion 
of  his  time,  and  looked  at  in  that  light  they  add  to, 
rather  than  detract  from,  the  peculiar  charm  and  spirit 
of  his  writings.     The  true  pedant— such  as  Polihimnio 


>  Lag.  619.  »o.    Of.  also  700.  25,  717.  39- 


2  Lag.  718.26. 


I 


I 


Li  1 


m 


i 


I 


1 06 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


in  the  Causa  (who  has  been  thought  to  have  suggested 
Polonius  in    Hamlet),  Mamphurio   in   the    Candelato, 
Prudentio  in  the  Cena-h  one  that  for  style  loves 
long  words,  learned  phrases,  irrespective  of  their  con- 
text ;    who,  under  pretence   of  accuracy,  delights   in 
trifling,  subtle  distinctions,  sows  broadcast  mythological 
or  classical  allusions  without  a  hint  of  relevancy      His 
favourite  hunting-ground  is,  however,  philosophy,  and 
it  is  to  philosophy,  according  to  Bruno,  that  the  pedant 
has  done  greatest  injury.     One  of  the  most  vigorous 
descriptions  of  him  which  Bruno  gives  is  in  the  Causa, 
where,  no  doubt,  some  of  the  actual  writers  of  the  time 
are   satirised.      Curiously,  Ramus   and    Patrizzi,  both 
reformers  of   philosophy,   are    mentioned  as   "arch- 
pedants";  but  men  have  always  criticised  most  bitterly 
those  who  stood  nearest  to  themselves. 

Bruno  regarded  words  as  the  servants  of  his  pen, 
claimed,  and  indeed  exercised  almost  too  freely,  the 
right  of  inventing  new  words  for  new  things.      Use 
and  wont,  he  knew,  determined  the  fate  of  words  as  ot 
other  things  ;  some  which  had  fallen  into  decay  would 
rise  again,  others  now  honoured  would  lapse  from  use. 
For  the  teaching  of  the  philosophers  of  old  their  own 
old  words  were  the  clearest  mirror,  but  for  new  theories 
new  words  might  be  sought  from  the  readiest  source  : 
_"  grammarians  are  the  servants  of  words,  words  are 
our  servants  ;  it  is  for  them  to  study  the  use  to  which 
we  put  our  words."  * 

»  Lag.  213.  14  ff.,  cf.  »4»-  35.  »'"'  ^'  Mmim,,  blc  iii.  1. 
«  De  Minimo,  Of.  Lat.  i.  3,  135. 


11 


r, 


IMAGINATION :  ORIGINALITY        107 


XX 

For  such  coinage,  as  for  illustrations  to  his  theories, 
references  to  old  authorities,  material  for  his  satire  on 
pedants,    as   well    as    for   more   doubtful   purposes,— 
mystical  or  magical  formulae,  or  "proofe,"— his  pro- 
digious memory  never  left  Bruno  at  a  loss.     But  if  this 
memory,  in  its  tenacity,  supplied  him  with   powerful 
and  ready  arguments  against  his  opponents  m   their 
appeal  to  the  authority  of  antiquity,  it  was  also,  in  its 
fertility,  the  source  of  the  chief  defects  of  his  writing, 
and  perhaps  also  of  his   speaking.     His   imagination 
runs  riot  in  the  pursuit  of  allegories,  metaphors  similes 
7rom  mythology.     Tiraboschi,  the  historian  of  Italian 
Uterature,     defies    "the    most    acute    intelligence    to 
penetrate  into  his  system,  the  most  patient  of  men  to 
endure  the  reading  of  it." 

So  far  was  this  enormous   mass  of  material  trom 
blocking   up   the   spring   of  originality   in   his  mind, 
however,  that  the  ideas  in  which  he  may  be  said  to 
have  "  anticipated  "  modern  thought  are  innumerable. 
No  doubt,  in  many  cases,  they  came  from  the  earlier 
Greek  philosophers  whom  he  chiefly  studied  ;  but  Bruno 
invariably  gives  them  a  connection  with  his  own  theory, 
such  as  precludes  us  from  taking  his  restoration  ot 
them  for  a  happy  chance.     Such  ideas,  for  example,  are 
those   of  the   evolution  or  gradual  transformation  ot 
lower  organisms  into  higher  {Be  Umbris,  Int.  7),  of 
the   part  played  by  the  hand  in  the  evolution  of  the 
human  race  {Cabala,    L.    586.    35)>    of    the   gradual 
-changes  brought  about  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  its 
seas,    its  islands,   the   configuration  of  the   land,    the 


^ 


I  '1 


f\ 


,0tm 


•^T 


I 


IT 


■( 


io8 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


HIS  CREED 


109 


PART 


1  •' 


climate   of    difFerent    countries,   by   the    constant,   if 
imperceptible,  operation  of  natural  causes  (^Cena,  L.  190 
ff.)  :  of  the  true  nature  of  mountains,  which  are  only 
excrescences  as  compared  with  the  real  mountains,  the 
larger  continents  that  slope  upwards  from  the  sea  {e.g. 
France)  :  of  the  true  nature  of  comets,  so  far  at  least 
as    that   they    are   perfectly   natural   bodies   allied   to 
planets^  (Injlnit.  L.  372  ;   De  Imm.  iv.  9.  51);  of  the 
identity  of  the  matter  of  heavenly  bodies  with  that  of 
the  earth,  the  universality  of  movement  (even  the  fixed 
stars    move,    cf.    Infinit.,  L.    350,    35 1>    40o),   the 
possibility  (he  said  rather  the  certainty)  of  other  worlds 
than  our  own  being  inhabited  by  beings  similar  to  or 
more  highly  developed  than   ourselves  (L.  360.  27). 
He  "  anticipated  "  also  the  idea  of  Lessing  that  myths 
may  contain  foreshadowings  of  truth,  and  that  they 
should  be  interpreted  not  by  their  letter,  as  matters  of 
fact,  but  by  their  spirit,  as  indications  of  higher  « truths 
of  reason."      The  Bible  should  be  interpreted  in  the 
same  way :    as  Spinoza   afterwards   taught,  so  Bruno 
held,  that  the  Scriptures  inculcated  moral  and  practical 
truths,   to  which  their  seemingly  historical  statements 
were  entirely  subordinate. 

Add  to  this  fermenting  thought,  power  of  memory, 
keenness  and  sureness  of  glance,  and  imaginative  force, 
the  fact  that  Bruno  had  a  deeply  poetic  nature,  fiery, 
vivid,  passionate  in  defence  of  what  seemed  to  him  true, 
equally  passionate  in  hatred  of  what  seemed  to  him 
false,  and  the  sources  of  his  strength  and  weakness  alike 
become  clear.  The  Italian  writings  remain,  in  spite  of 
their  occasional  obscurity,  the  most  brilliant  of  philoso- 
phical works  in  that  language,  while  the  Latin  works 

1  In  hi.  De  Orbhis  Planetarum,  1801,  Hegel  **  demomtrated  "  that  the  number  of 
planets  could  not  exceed  seven.     Before  it  appeared,  Piawi  had  discovered  Ceres. 


I 


M 


i\ 


are  a  monument  of  learning  (too  often  misapplied  or 
useless),  of  acute  reasoning,  and  of  poetic  enthusiasm. 


/' 


H 


XXI 

Bruno  was  far   from  being   what  we  should  now  Religion, 
call   a   Rationalist;    he    felt    that   cold   reason,    mere 
human  logic  alone,  could  not  fathom  the  deepest  nature 
of    things,   which    was    God,   but    that    this   deepest 
nature  of  things  was  apart  from  conditions  of  time 
and  space.    Whatever  occurred  under  these  conditions, 
—whatever  fell  within  the  actual  worid,— he  claimed 
for  sense  and  reason,  i.e.  as  a  subject  of  natural  explana- 
tion, as  accessible  in  all  its  aspects  to  human  knowledge. 
There   are   thus   two   very    distinct   sides   to   Bruno's 
philosophical  character :  on  the  one  side  he  is  a  fore- 
runner of  modern  science,  in   his  love   of  nature  as 
a  whole,  in  his  desire  to  understand  it,  in  his  applica- 
tion of  purely  "  empirical  "  methods  to  its  analysis.    To 
this  side  belong  his  rejection  of  the  orthodox  dogmas 
concerning   the   Trinity,  the   Immaculate    Conception,^ 
and    the  rest,    his   theory   of   an   evolution   of  man, 
his  idea  of  a  natural  history  of  religions,  his  entire 

^  ..1 A- 


V-'--L 


C-t- 


rejection  of  authority  however  high  as  an  argument  idh  J^^Jw 
for  or  against  a  theory  or  view  of  nature.     His  own    ^^^^^SX!^ 
religious  creed  was  simple,  and  he  believed  it  to  be  .^^  P^'^^^ 
the  essence  of  what  was  true  in  aU   the  jarring  sects    ^^  ^ 
that  had  separated  man  from  man,  nation  from  nation,     ^ 
and  race  from  race—"  the  law  of  love— which  springs- 
not  from  the  evil   genius  of  any  one  race,  but  from 
God  the  father  of  all,  and  is  in  harmony  with  universal 
nature,  which   teaches   a   general   love   of  man,    that 
we  should  love  our  enemies  even,  should  not  remain 


k  1 


;l 


no 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


like  brutes  or  barbarians,  but  be  transformed  into  the 
likeness  of  Him  who  makes  His  sun  to  rise   upon 
the  good  and  the   bad,  and   pours  the  ram  of  His 
mercies  upon  the  just  and   the  unjust.     This  is  the 
religion  above  controversy  or  dispute,  which  I  observe 
from  the  belief  of  my  own  mind,  and  from  the  custom 
of  my  fatherland  and  my  race." »     On  the  other  side, 
he  had   inherited  the  mysticism  of  the   Neoplatonist 
school,  or  at  least  it  called  out  a  responsive  echo  from 
his  mind  so  soon  as  he  came  under  its  influence.     He 
was  full  of  enthusiasm,  as  we  shall  find,  for  the  divine 
—in  things,  in  us,  in  the  world,   in  the  universe— a 
"God-intoxicated  man"  far  more  strikingly  than  the 
impassive   Spinoza.      It   was   because   the    Copernican 
theory  fitted  into  his  mystical  thought  of  the  One, 
as  an  identity  of  the  infinitely  small,  the  point,  and 
the    infinitely    great,   the    broad,   deep,   immeasurable 
universe,  that   it   appeared   to   him   an   inspiration  of 
genius.     Therefore  he  defended  it,  extended  it  further 
lian  its  originator  dared  extend  it,  and  finally  died 
for  it  and  for  aU  that  it  meant  to  him.     His  belief 
in  natural  magic  belongs  again  to  this  side,  or  rather 
to  the  influence  of  the  one  side  of  his  nature  upon 
the   other;    owing   to   their   essential   unity   in   God, 
natural  things  have  sympathies  with  one  another  and 
with  human  life,  so  that  a  change  in  one  thing— a  stone, 
a  tree— may  indirectly  cause  a  corresponding  change  in 
another,  a  human  being.     It  was  characteristic  of  him 
that  he  sought  to  give  to  these  beliefs— which,  be  it 
remembered,  were  universal   m  his  time— a  rational 
basis,  a  connection  with  his  thought-system  as  a  whole. 
The  two  sides  or  standpoints  are  never  far  apart 
in  Bruno  :  it  is  often  impossible  to  say  to  which  a 

»  jtrt.  Aiv.  Math.  Efitt.  DeJ.  (i.  3.  4). 


it 


OPTIMISM 


III 


given   theory  or  mood  should  be  attributed,  but   in 
his  earlier  life  the  mystical,  in  his  later  the  naturalistic, 
or   rationalist   standpoint   may    be  said   to   have   pre- 
dominated.    It  is  with  the  more  metaphysical  attitude 
that  a  certain  vein  of  optimism  in  Bruno's  philosophy 
is  connected,  the  familiar  conception  of  evil,  natural 
or  moral,  as  necessary  for  the  good  of  the  whole,  like 
the  discords  by  which  a  harmony  is  heightened.    No 
absolute  evil,  for  the  consistent  Neoplatonist,  can  pos- 
sibly exist  in  a  world  which  flows  from  the  divine  and 
is  an  outpouring  of  His  nature.     But  Bruno  had  little 
or    nothing    of    the   practical    optimist    in    his    own 
character  ;  whatever  he  thought  to  be  evil,  he  fought 
against  with  all  his  might ;  a  victim  of  intolerance,  he 
had  himself  no  toleration  for  some  points  of  view — 
those,  namely,  which  he  felt  might  weaken  the  bonds  of 
civil  society  and  of  human  brotherhood.     "  Such  evil 
teachers,"  he  writes  in  the  Sigillus  (ii.  2.  182),  "succeed- 
ing time,  and  a  world   wise  overlate  in   its   own    ill 
condition,  will  exterminate  as  the  tares,  canker-worms, 
locust  plagues  of  their  age— nay,  as  scorpions  and  vipers." 
Bruno  saw  only  too  clearly  the  evils  of  the  world,  and 
of  his  age,  from  the  greatest  of  which— tyranny  over 
the  soul,  and  suppression  of  mental  liberty— he  suffered 
in  his  own  person  ;  and  his  life,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
spent   in   a   ceaseless,    and    for    the    time   unavailing, 
struggle  against  them.      But  he   never   lost   his   faith 
in  the  ultimate  victory  of  his  own  philosophy,  based 
as  it  was  upon  his  faith  in  the  essennal  goodness,  justice, 
and  truth   of  the  eternal  source   of  things.      As  all 
things  flow  from,  so  all  things  tend  to  return  to  God. 
Philosophy   goes   further   than   to    teach   merely   that 
pain  and  evil  are  not  absolute  facts,  not  grounded  in 
the  nature  of  things  ;  it  also  frees  the  believer  from  the 


5 


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'    I- 


112 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART  I 


burden  they  impose  :— "  the  practical  test  of  a  perfect 
philosophy  is,  when  one  by  the  height  of  his  specula- 
tion is  so  far  withdrawn  from  bodily  things  as  hardly 
to  feel  pain.  And  there  is  greater  virtue,  as  we  believe, 
in  one  who  has  come  to  such  a  point  as  not  to  feel 
pain  at  all  than  in  another  who  feels  it  but  resists. 
He  who  is  more  deeply  moved  by  the  thought  of  some 
other  thing  does  not  feel  the  pangs  of  death.*'  ^ 

Bg.  Sig.  (ii.  2.  19*'^ 


II 


■M> 


\ 


WORKS  OF  BRUNO  PUBLISHED  AFTER  1592^ 


I.  Summa  terminorum  metaphysicorum  ad  capes  senium  Logic  ae  et 
Philosophiae  studium,  ex  Jordani  Bruni  Nolani  Entis  descensu  manusc, 
excerpta;  nunc  primum  luci  commissa;  a  Raphaele  Eglino  homo, 
Tigurino :  Zurich,  1595.  Reprinted  in  1609  i^Summa  Terminorum 
Metaphysicorum,  Jordani  Bruni  Nolani.  Accessit  eiusdem  Praxis 
Descensus  seu  Multiplicatio  Entis  ex  Manuscripto  per  Raphaelum 
Eglinum  Iconium  Tigurinum  in  Acad,  Marpurg.  Profess.  Theolog.  cum 
supplemento  Rodolphi  Goclenii  Senioris,  Marburg,  1609.2 

Described  by  the  editor,  Eglin,  who  was  with  Bruno  at  Zurich, 
and  afterwards  became  Professor  of  Theology  at  Marburg,  as  Bruno's 
'*  Metaphysical  remains."  It  represents  the  fruit  of  the  lectures 
given  by  Bruno  at  Zurich  in  1 591,^  and  is  one  of  the  earliest  philo- 
sophical dictionaries  extant.  It  is  on  the  model  of  the  Fifth  Book 
of  Aristotle's  Metaphysics,  now  known  to  have  been  intended  by 
Aristotle  as  a  separate  work,  but  differs  in  its  choice  and  arrange- 
ment of  the  terms  of  philosophy  which  are  discussed.  The  first 
part  of  the  work,  which  was  published  by  itself  in  Zurich,  may 
best  be  described  as  a  handbook  to  philosophy  generally,  the  main 
reference  being  to  Aristotle's  system,  as  was  natural  :  with  it  Bruno 
writes  for  the  most  part  in  agreement.  The  second  part,  however, 
which  was  not  published  unul  the  Marburg  Edition  (p.  73  fF.  of  the 
State  Edirion),  is  an  "  application  "  of  the  several  terms  already 
defined  to  the  Neoplatonist  philosophy  :  in  its  first  secrion  {De  Deo 
seu  Mente)  they  are  applied  and  illustrated  by  reference  to  God  as 
the  source  of  the  world,  of  whom  all  things  are  emanarions,  in  a 
graduated  scale  of  being ;  in  the  second  {IntelUctus  seu  Idea)  to  the 
worid  of  Ideas— God  in  the  worid,  the  soul  in  all  things  and  in 

1  Works  published  during  Bruno's  imprisonment,  and  posthumously, 
a  Cf.  Op.  Lat.  vol.  i.  pt.  4.     Also  in  Gfrorer.  '  Cf.  p.  67,  1.  11. 

I 


if 


li 


*!*' 


114 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


everything  ;  and  a  third  section  {Amor  sen  puhhritudo)  should  have 
followed,  dealing  with  God  as  the  end  and  goal  of  things,  but  is 
awanting.^  The  document  on  the  Predicates  of  God  which 
Mocenigo  presented  to  the  Court  at  Venice  was  probably  the 
second  part  of  the  Summa,  or  perhaps  only  its  first  section  (Brunn- 
hofer,  p.  106). 

2.  Arttficium  perorandi  traditum  a  Jordano  Bruno  Nolano  Italo^ 
eommunicatum  a  Johan,  Henrico  Alstedio,  In  gratiam  eorum  qui  eh- 
quentiae  vim  et  rationem  ctygnoscere  cupiunt,  Frankfort,  1 61 2.  (Also 
in  Gfrorer,  and  State  Edition,  vol.  ii.  pt.  3,  No.  3). — A  summary 
of,  or  a  commentary  on,  the  spurious  Rhetoric  of  Aristotle  {ad 
Alexandrum\  with  the  addition  of  a  second  part  by  Bruno,  on 
which  he  himself  lays  no  great  stress,  on  elocution  or  adornment ; 
he  refers  his  readers,  however,  to  the  orators  themselves  for  com- 
plete instruction.  It  contains  chiefly  lists  of  heads  of  arguments 
and  of  synonyms  for  rhetorical  use.  Apparently  the  work  is  printed 
from  notes  of  Bruno's  lectures  in  Wittenberg  (1587),  which  came 
into  the  hands  of  the  editor,  Alsted,  in  1610. 

3.  Lampas  Triginta  Statuarum. — First  published  in  the  State 
Edition,  vol.  iii.  pp.  1-258,  from  MSB.  of  the  NorofF  collection  at 
Moscow.  This  is  in  the  hand  of  Besler,  Bruno's  pupil  and  copyist, 
and  was  done  at  Padua  in  the  autumn  of  1 591,  although  Besler  had 
received  the  original,  which  he  copied,  in  April  1590  at  Helmstadt. 
Another  MS.  is  in  the  Augustan  Library,  and  is  both  more  obviously 
correct  and  of  earlier  date  than  the  copy  of  Besler  (1587);  in  all 
probability  the  work  was  dictated  by  Bruno  at  Wittenberg,  and  is 
that  referred  to  as  Lampas  Cabalistica  in  the  letter  of  dedication  pre- 
fixed to  the  De  Specierum  Scrutinio  (Prague,  1588),  and  as  shortly 
to  be  published.2 

It  contains  a  finished  study  of  philosophy  from  Bruno's  stand- 
point, arranged  under  thirty  and  more  headings,  '*  Types,"  "  Statues 
and  Images,"  "Fields,"  etc.  Under  each  heading  are  thirty 
"articles,"   "conditions,"  "descriptions,"  "contemplations."    For 

^  Brunnhofer  (p.  81)  suggests  that  the  first  part  contains  the  exoteric,  the  second 
the  esoteric  teaching  of  Bruno.  But  as  Tocco  {Opere  Latine  di  G.  B.,  p.  136) 
rightly  points  out,  some  such  knowledge  of  Aristotelian  terms  as  that  in  Part  i. 
would  form  a  necessary  preliminary  to  the  study  of  philosophy  in  Bruno's  time.  He 
makes  use  of  the  Aristotelian  terms  to  express  ideas  quite  different  from  those  of 
Aristotle. 

^  Op.  Lat,  ii.  2.  333. 


I 


fl 


I  WORKS  PUBLISHED  AFTER  1592      115 

example,  we  have  first  the  two  triads — Chaos,  Orcus,  Nox  ;  and 
Pater,  Intellectus  Primus,  Lux — typifying  the  lowest  and  the  highest 
principles  of  things  :  the  first  three  are  Vacuum,  Potency  in 
Appetite,  and  Matter ;  the  second  three  Mind  or  Reason,  Under- 
standing or  Soul,  and  Love  or  Spirit.  At  the  close  of  the  Statuae 
there  follows  the  practical  application  of  them  to  the  scale  of 
Nature — the  outflow  of  the  highest  towards  the  lowest,  the  gradual 
transition  from  lowest  to  highest ;  an  account  of  the  thirty  pre- 
dicates of  Substance  and  of  "  Nature  "  in  the  universal  sense  ;  and  a 
logical  or  methodological  illustration  of  the  uses  of  the  Art  under 
the  headings  of  Definition,  Verification,  Demonstration.  The 
general  purpose  of  the  whole  is  to  give  an  instrument  for  discovery 
{^''Invention'')  of  truth,  after  the  model  of  the  Lullian  Art,  just  as 
some  of  the  earlier  works  (e.g.  De  Umbris)  contain  a  similar  instru- 
ment for  remembering  knowledge  acquired.^  Unfortunately  the 
work  is  entirely  marred  by  the  artificial  distinctions  drawn,  and  the 
tying  down  (or  expansion)  of  the  ideas  treated  therein  to  the  thirty 
fundamental  notions  and  thirty  applications  of  each.  Thus  subjects 
and  predicates  are  thirty  in  number  each,  and  the  modes  of  pre- 
dication are  in  classes  of  fifteen.  It  is  impossible  not  to  agree  with 
Tocco's  verdict,  that  "  However  fine  the  analysis  employed  in  dis- 
tinguishing the  subtlest  shades  of  concepts,  however  great  the 
number  of  elevated  philosophical  thoughts  scattered  throughout, 
expounded  with  vigour  and  felicity  of  imagery,  the  tractate  as  a 
whole  has  little  value,  just  as  the  ars  inventiva  itself  has  little — 
more  fit  to  blunt  than  to  sharpen  the  inventive  powers."  2  One 
gladly  re-echoes  Bruno's  words  at  the  close  :  "  Itaque  gratias  deo 
agentes^  Artem  Inventivam  per  triginta  statuas  perfecimus^ 

4.  Animadversiones  circa  Lampaaem  Lullianam  (State  Edition,  vol. 
ii.  pt.  2). — From  the  Augustan  MSS.,  dated  13th  March  1587. 
Notes  dictated  in  Wittenberg,  on  the  Lullian  art  as  a  universal 
instrument  for  the  discovery  of  truth. 

5.  Libri  Physicorum  Aristotelis^  a  clariss.  Dn,  D.  Jordano  Bruno 
Nolano  explanati, — From  two  codices  in  the  Erlangen  Library,  the 
second  of  which  is  in  the  hand  of  Besler,  and  was  written,  pre- 
sumably, at  Helmstadt.  The  earlier  MS.  in  a  German  handwriting 
points  to  the  commentaries  having  been  dictated  by  Bruno  during 


1  Vidt  Tocco,  Optre  Inediu  di  G.  B,    Napoli,  1891. 


2  Op,  cit.  p.  77. 


A 


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iH' 


\ 


> 


ii6 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


his  stay  at  Wittenberg.^  The  books  of  Aristotle  treated  are  the 
five  books  of  the  PSysica,  the  De  generathne  et  corruptione^  the 
Meteorologica,  Book  IV.  There  is  an  introduction  on  the  methods 
of  the  sciences,  and  other  matters,  by  Bruno  himself;  the  remainder 
follows  closely  the  text  of  Aristotle,  except  in  the  fourth  and  fifth 
books,  where  Bruno  is  much  less  exact, 

6.  De  Magidy  et  Theses  de  Magia, — The  MS.  of  this  work  is  in 
the  Erlangen  Codex,  by  Besler,  and  also  in  the  Moscow  (NorofF) 
collection,  by  the  same  hand  ;  the  former  is  a  copy  of  the  latter, 
which  was  dictated  by  Bruno  in  the  early  part  of  1590  at 
Helmstadt. 

It  deals  with  one  of  the  three  divisions  of  Magic,  viz.  Natural  or 
Physical  Magic  (the  others  being  Divine,  Metaphysical  or  Super- 
natural, and  Mathematical — that  of  symbols,  numbers,  etc.). 
Physical  magic  is  shown  to  be  a  natural  consequence,  first,  of  the 
fact  that  the  same  soul,  the  soul  of  the  world,  is  in  all  things,  of 
which  the  individual  finite  soul  of  each  thing  is  a  temporary  mode 
or  phase  ;  hence  all  things  are  linked  one  with  another,  through 
their  spiritual  identity,  in  a  bond  of  sympathy  ;  secondly,  of  the 
hierarchy  of  beings — the  principle  that  all  finite  things  are  emana- 
tions, in  increasing  degree  of  imperfection,  from  the  Divine.  The 
Theses  represent  a  summary  of  the  De  Magia^  and  in  the  latter  the 
headings  of  the  former  are  referred  to  throughout,  except  in  two 
episodes  or  excursus  not  strictly  connected  with  natural  magic  (on 
spirit-charms  and  spirit-analogies)  :  the  work  is  referred  to  in  the 
De  Mi'nimo,  i.  3.  210  {re  the  magical  influences  of  bodies  newly 
dead  ;  "  the  soul  everywhere  recognises  the  matter  of  its  own  body, 
as  we  have  shown  in  the  book  on  physical  magic  "). 

7.  De  Magia  Mathematica, — Merely  a  collection  of  excerpts 
from  writers  on  Magic — Tritemius,  Agrippa,  Pietro  Di  Abano,  the 
(Pseudo-)  Albertus  Magnus.  (Noroff  MSS.  The  title  is  that  ot 
the  Italian  editors.) 

8.  De  Rerum  Principiis  et  Ele mentis  et  Causis.  —  (NorofF  MSS. 
The  writing  was  begun  on  the  i6th  of  March  1590,  in  Helmstadt, 
by  Besler,  to  Bruno's  dictation.) 

It  contains  the  theory  of  the  natural  and  material  elements  or 

^  Fide  Op.  Lat.  iii..  Introduction  by  Vitelli  j  but  according  to  Stblzle  {Archiv  fur 
GescA.  d.  Phil.  iii.  1890)  and  Tocco  {Op.  Ined.^  p.  99)  they  belong  to  the  first  stay 
in  Paris.     The  latter  adds  that  they  may  have  been  repeated  in  Wittenberg. 


f    ' 


I  WORKS  PUBLISHED  AFTER  1592      117 

principles  of  things— light  and  fire,  wind  or  air,  water  or  vapour  or 
darkness,  and  earth  or  the  dry,  with  their  »' forms,"  time  and  place 

leaving  the  metaphysical  and  the  immaterial  principles  (spirit 

and  soul)  for  consideration  elsewhere.  It  is  not  of  great  scientific 
value.  Bruno  makes  use  of  abstract  terms  even  more  readily  than 
Aristotle  (e.g.  ''lux  seminaliter  est  ubique,  et  in  tenebris*'  p.  514). 
The  chief  aim  of  the  work  is  to  illustrate  the  magical  applicarions 
of  the  different  elementsi  (cf.  pp.  516,  525,  etc.).  Its  value  mainly 
lies  in  the  light  it  throws  on  Bruno's  atomic  theory,  and  on  one  or 
two  other  minor  points  of  his  philosophy — the  harmony,  co-ordina- 
tion, and  sympathy  between  all  natural  things,  the  doctrines  of 
liberty  and  necessity,  etc. 

9.  De  Medicina  Lulliana^  partim  ex  mathematicis,  partim  ex  physicis 
principiis  educta. — ^Written  immediately  after  the  above  {de  rerum 
principiis),  to  which  it  occasionally  refers  :  merely  a  collection  of 
abstracts  from  works  of  Lully  on  medicine,  as  a  practical  applicarion 
of  the  system  of  magic  contained  in  the  three  previous  writings. 
It  is  accordingly  of  the  astrological  type  of  mediaeval  medicine. 

10.  DeVinculisingenere,  NorofFMSS.— A  first  sketch  in  Bruno's 
own  hand,  dating  probably  from  Frankfort ;  and  a  later,  much 
more  detailed,  in  Besler's,  copied  at  Padua.  It  in  a  sense  completes 
the  tractates  on  Magic,  by  dealing  with  "  attraction  "  in  general,  of 
which  the  attractions  and  sympathies  of  natural  and  mathemarical 
magic  are  special  cases.  As  it  stands,  however  (for  neither  sketch 
is  finished  :  Bruno's  covers  wider  ground  than  Besler's,  the  latter 
breaks  off  abruptly  before  the  natural  end  is  reached),  it  is  a 
psychological  essay  on  the  human  passions,  and  more  especially  on 
human  love,  from  a  purely  objective,  matter-of-fact  standpoint. 
In  it  the  most  grossly  material  and  the  highest  spiritual  sources  of 
love  are  placed  side  by  side  ;  and  to  love,  including  self-love,  are 
reduced  all  passions,  all  effects,  even  hate,  which  is  an  outcome,  a 
reversion  of  love. 


1  Under  the  heading  "  Time  "  {de  tempore^  there  is  a  short  treatise  on  Astrology. 


f 


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I' 


I 


I 


I 


PART   II 


PHILOSOPHY   OF    BRUNO 


I 


I 


! 


I 


»  -  ■•     -^         «■»  II 


i;i 


)l 


■t 


II 


;l 


CHAPTER  I 

THE    SOURCES    OF    THE    PHILOSOPHY 

In  the  school  and  the  monastery  at  Naples  Bruno  passed 
as  a  matter  of  course  through  a  training  in  the  Scholastic 
Philosophy.  Before  entering  the  monastery  of  St. 
Dominic  at  fifteen  years  of  age  he  had  studied  "  humane 
letters,  logic,  and  dialectic,"  ^  and  had  attended,  among 
other  lectures,  a  private  course  by  Theophilus  of  Varrano, 
an  Augustine  monk  and  distinguished  Aristotelian. 
From  him,  probably,  Bruno  received  an  impetus  towards 
the  study  of  Aristotle  in  the  original  works,  if  not  also 
in  the  original  tongue,  which  stood  him  in  admirable 
stead  when  he  came  later  to  attack  the  foundations  of 
the  vulgar  philosophy.  He  was  familiar  at  first  hand 
with  all  the  main  writings  of  Aristotle.^  He  had  read, 
too,  and  cites,  most  of  the  earlier  commentators — 
Adrastus  and  Alexander  of  Aphrodisias,  Porphyry, 
Themistius,  Simplicius,  and  "  Philoponus  '*  ^ — as  well  as 
the  later,  the  Arabians  and  other  Schoolmen.  He  had 
accordingly  a  more  thorough  acquaintance  with  the 
mind  of  Aristotle  than  any  of  the  latter's  staunchest 
supporters  in  his  time  :  the  lack  of  the  historic  sense 

^  Doc.  8  :  the  words  suggest  a  special  training  in  Latin,  Greek,  Philosophy, 
and  Rhetoric, — not  the  whole  Trivium  and  j^uadrivium  of  the  ordinary  education  of 
the  day,  as  Berti  supposes. 

2  Cf.  Op.  Lat.  ii.  2.  61  ;  ii.  3  j  i.  4.  39,  65,  69  j  i.  i.  256,  etc. 


1.  4.  21  ;  I.  I.  223  }  1.  I.  231. 


121 


'      i 


.1 


)/ 


il 


I 

f 


) 


122 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


prevented  him,  however,  from  taking  a  just  view  of  the 
system  as  a  whole  :  it  was  not  the  Aristotle  of  Greek 
philosophy  whom  he  rejected,  and  against  whom  he 
wielded  the  powerful  weapons  of  his  armoury,  but  the 
Aristotle  of  his  own  day, — a  living  force  with  which  no 
one  could  avoid  a  reckoning,  the  influence  of  which  was  no 
longer  for  good,  but  which  formed,  as  Bruno  felt,  a  barrier 
against  the  progressive  thought  and  spirit  of  the  time. 
In  the  introductory  letter  to  the  Figuratio  Arist.  Phys. 
AudituSy  Bruno  gave  three  reasons  for  undertaking  the 
work  :  ^ — (i)  "  that  he  might  not  appear,  like  so  many 
others,  to  be  taking  up  the  office  of  censor  without  a 
sufficient  knowledge  of  his  subject ;  (2)  that  he  might 
present  to  his  opponents  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle 
as  it  really  was,  for  the  majority  of  the  Aristotelians 
admired  it  rather  from  their  faith  in  the  man  Aristotle 
than  from  discriminate  judgment  concerning  the 
principles  of  the  philosophy ;  (3)  that  he  might  seem 
not  an  audacious  caviller  against  thoughts  that  were 
beyond  his  depth,  but  a  genuine  and  legitimate  disputant 
on  doctrines  that  were  clear  to  himself.'*  ^  The  name 
of  Aristotle  was  a  charm ;  his  opinion  final  not  in  matters 
of  pure  philosophy  alone,  but  equally  in  natural  theory ; 
his  natural  philosophy  had  been  harmonised  with 
scriptural  authority,  and  was  the  accepted  doctrine  of 
the  Church.  The  cry  which  his  critic  heard  had  weight 
behind  it :  "  You  against  Aristotle — against  so  many 
authorities,  so  great  names?  I  would  rather  be  in 
error  along  with  them,  than  find  truth  with  you ! "  ® 
The  danger  lay  not  so  much  in  the  error  of  Aristotle's 
theory  of  nature,  or  of  his  metaphysical  theories,  as  in 
his  authority  ;  "  many  of  the  Peripatetics,"  Bruno  says 

*  A  compendium  of  Aristotle's  Physics,  •  Op,  Lat,  i.  4.  131  ff. 

'  {De  JmmttttOf  iii.  3),  Op,  Lat,  i,  i.  340. 


II 


ARISTOTLE 


123 


in  the  Cena,  "  grow  angry,  and  flush  and  quarrel  about 
Aristotle,  yet  do  not  understand  even  the  meanings  of 
the  titles  of  his  books."  ^  It  was  the  influence  of  this 
authority  that  Bruno,  in  the  interests  of  true  philosophy 
and  science,  set  to  work  to  undermine.  The  charge 
which  he  brought  against  Aristotle  was  the  same  as  that 
which  Bacon  afterwards  brought — that  he  attempted  to 
explain  nature  by  logical  categories.  "  It  is  not  strange 
that  from  impossible,  logical,  and  imaginary  distinctions 
quite  discordant  with  the  truth  of  things,  he  infers  an 
infinite  number  of  other  untruths"  {inconvenientia)." 
"  Matter  is  formless  only  to  logical  abstraction,  as  with 
Aristotle,  who  is  constantly  dividing  by  reason  what  is 
\^  indivisible  according  to  nature  and  truth:  "'  "a  logical 
intention  (or  concept)  is  made  into  a  principle  (or 
element)  of  nature."*  However  unfair  and  indeed 
absurd  the  charge  must  appear  when  Aristotle  is  con- 
sidered in  his  actual  place  within  the  development  of 
philosophy  and  science,  and  however  far  Bruno  or  Bacon 
or  any  of  the  nature-philosophers  of  the  Renaissance  was 
from  avoiding  the  use  in  explanation  of  similar  purely 
logical  or  metaphysical  conceptions,  it  was  still  a  great 
^and  necessary  step  to  call  attention  to  the  need  of 
observation  and  experiment  upon  nature,  and  to  the 
value  of  mathematics  as  a  method  of  calculating  and 
correlating  the  phenomena  observed.  This  was  a  second 
objection  to  Aristotle,  that  he  despised  mathematics,  Aristotle'* 
*'  being  too  much  of  a  logician  (and  stronger  in  criticism  J^i^^atf. 
than  in  argument),"  yet,  Bruno  adds,  "  when  he  sought  "^  "method. 
to  explain  any  of  the  more  profound  facts  of  nature, 
he  was  often   driven   by  necessity  to   the  repudiated 

1  Lag.  131.  ^  Op.  Lat.  ii.  2.  133.  ^  Lag.  239. 

*  lb.  252.     Cf.  Bacon's  Ar<w.  Org.  i.  54  : — "Aristotle,  who  altogether  enslaved 
^is  natural  Philosophy  to  his  Logic,  and  so  rendered  it  nearly  useless  and  conten- 
tious," {vide  infrCy  ch.  9). 


»v 


t 


1 


,1 


124 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


mathematics."  Many  of  Bruno's  own  mathematical 
applications  savour  rather  of  Neopythagorean  mysticism 
than  of  the  spirit  of  modern  science,  and  his  geometry 
was  far  from  Euclidean,  but  he  at  least  made  a  serious 
attempt  to  account  for  the  building-up  of  bodies  and 
of  the  universe  on  mathematical  prmciples.  A  third 
objection,  which  again  we  find  in  Bacon,  is  as  to 
His  treat-    Aristotle's  treatment  of  his  predecessors.     His  deprecia- 

ment  of  the     .  '  r     -  ^  x^  r 

earlier  tion  ot  them  IS  Condemned  in  the  Causa: — '*Of_all 
philp^phers  I  do  not  know  one  who  founds  more  upon 
imagination,  or  is  further  removed  from  nature  than  he : 
^'^4-.iLsometimes  what  he  says  is  excellent,  we  know 
that  it jioes  not  spring  from  his  own  principles,  but  is 
always  a  proposition  taken  from  other  philosophers."^ 
In  another  passage  he  is  described  as  a  "  dry  sophist, 
aiming  with  malicious  explanations  and  frivolous  argu- 
ments to  pervert  the  opinions  of  the  ancients,  and  to 
oppose  the  truth,  not  so  much  perhaps  through 
imbecility  of  intelligence  as  through  the  influence  of 
envy  and  ambition."  ^  So  Bacon  speaks  of  him  as 
imposing  "innumerable  fictions  upon  the  nature  of 
things  at  his  own  will :  being  everywhere  more  anxious 
as  to  how  one  should  extricate  oneself  by  an  answer,  and 
how  some  positive  reply  in  words  should  be  made,  than 
as  to  the  internal  truth  of  things."*  In  particular  it 
was  argued  that  Aristotle  confused  the  various  meanings 
of  the  same  name  with  one  another  : — "  He  takes  the 
word  vacuum  in  a  sense  in  which  no  one  has  ever  under- 
stood  it,  building  castles  in  the  air,  and  then  pulling 
down  his  '  vacuum,'  but  not  that  of  any  other  who  has 
spoken  of  a  vacuum  or  made  use  of  the  name.  Sp  he 
acts  in  all  other  cases, — those  for  example  of  *  motion,' 


'  Lag.  256. 


'  Nov.  Org.  i.  62. 


«  U.  280. 


i 


) 


'I 


11     INTEREST  IN  GREEK  PHILOSOPHY    125 

*  infinite,'  *  matter,'  *form,'  'demonstration,'  'being,' 
always  building  on  the  faith  of  his  own  definition,  which 
gives  the  name  a  new  sense."  ^ 

The  close  study  of  Aristotle  himself^  which  was  one  ThfiPm, 
of  the  greatest  results  of  the  Humanist  movement,  had  ^^^''' 
the  effect  of  bringing  into  greater  prominence  the  ^ 
earlier  Greek  philosophers,  whose  doctrines  Aristotle 
states  and  criticises  in  many  of  his  works — notably  the 
Physics  and  Metaphysics.  The  rediscovery  of  antiquity 
included  that  of  ancient  philosophy  ;  and  Bruno's  dis-  V 
satisfaction  with  Aristotle  led  him  into  greater^mpathy 
with  the  nature -philosophers  whom  Aristotle  decried. 
Towards  these  earlier  Greeks,  as  towards  other 
philosophers,  his  attitude  is  wholly  that  of  an  Eclectic  : 
he  does  not  attempt  to  appreciate  their  relative  value, 
nor  to  discover  any  evolution  of  thought  through  the 
successive  systems.  From  each  he  takes  that  which 
agrees  or  appears  to  agree  with  his  own  philosophy,  and 
treats  it  as  an  anticipation  of,  or  as  an  authority  for, 
the  latter.  The  "  universal  intelligence,"  for  example, 
as  the  universal  efficient  cause  in  nature,  is  a  doctrine 
ascribed  in  the  Causa  indiscriminately  to  the  Pythago- 
reans, the  Platonists,  the  Magi,  Orpheus,  Empedocles, 
and  Plotinus.^  The  belief  in  an  infinite  ether  (Hera- 
clitus'  Fire)  surrounding  the  earth,  and  containing 
innumerable  worlds  within  it,  in  the  Cena  is  attributed, 
equally  without  discrimination,  to  Heraclitus,  Democ- 
ritus,  Epicurus,  Pythagoras,  Parmenides,  and  Melissus.^ 
Xenophanes  represented  for  Bruno  the  static  aspect  of 
Pantheism — the  Absolute  One  as  in  itself,  apart  from 
all    reference   to    the   finite ;  *  Heraclitus   its   dynamic 

1  {De  rinfinito).  Lag.  324.  2  ^^g  ^j,^ 

»  lb.  183.     Cf.  Op.  Lat.  i.  i.  282,  288. 

*  Cf.  Op.  Lat.  i.  I.  96,  3.  26,  3.  271  J  i.  i.  291  j  i.  3.  26  ;  iii.  70,  etc. 


H 


H 


tf 


Deraoc- 
ritus. 


I  i 


126 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


aspect — the  Absolute  as  unfolding,  revealing  itself, 
"  appearing  "  in  and  through  the  finite.^  Anaxagoras 
expressed  the  relation  between  the  finite  individual 
and  the  One, — **  AU  things  are  in  all  things,"  for 
"  omnipotent,  all-producing  divinity  pervades  the  whole, 
therefore  nothing  is  so  small  but  that  divinity  lies  con- 
cealed in  it."  ^  "  Everything  is  in  everything,  because 
spirit  or  soul  is  in  all  things,  and  therefore  out  of  any- 
thing may  be  produced  anything  else."  *  To  Anaxagoras, 
as  to  Bruno,  nature  was  divine.*  No  special  distinction 
was  made  by  Bruno  between  the  teaching  of  Anaxagoras 
and  that  of  Empedocles  :  in  one  passage  he  attributes 
to  the  former  the  theory  of  effluxes  and  influxes  of 
atoms  through  the  pores  of  bodies,  which  really  belongs 
to  the  latter,^  and  in  another  suggests  that  Empedocles 
only  put  in  a  more  "  abstract "  way  what  Anaxagoras 
had  shown  "  concretely,"  that  all  things  are  in  all.^ 

With  Leucippus  and  Democritus  Bruno  might  have 
been  expected  to  claim  affinity,  through  their  common 
atomism  and  naturalism  :  with  two  cardinal  features  of 
the  traditional  Epicureanism  he  was  however  in  entire 
disagreement.  The  one  was  its  admission  of  the 
void  or  vacuum :  it  explained  the  constitution  of 
diverse  bodies  out  of  atoms  which  were  all  of  the  same 
spherical  form,  by  the  diflPcrcnt  positions  and  order  in 
which  the  void  and  solid  parts  respectively  were 
arranged,  whereas  Bruno  could  not  imagine  the  cor- 
poreal atoms  holding  together  without  a  material 
substance,  extending  continuously  throughout  the 
universe.^     The  other  point  of  contrast  was  its  denial 

1  Lag.  282.  *  Of>.  Lot.  ii.  2.  196,  and  {Htr,  Fur.)  Lag.  722, 35. 

'  Cm*  Lag-  »37-  9-     Cf.  Her.  Fur.  Lag.  722.  35. 


*  Lag.  256.  25,  273.  25.     Cf.  Oj>.  Lat.  i.  1.  377. 

•  ».  a.  148.  '  i.  3.  140. 


1.  I.  272. 


^\ 


II  LUCRETIUS:  NEOPLATONISM        127 

that  anything  but  corporeal  matter  exists,  with  the 
corollary  that  forms  are  merely  accidental  dispositions 
of  matter  :  Bruno  confesses  to  have  been  at  one  time  of 
the  same  opinion,  but  he  had  been  unable  wholly  to 
reduce  forms  to  matter,  and  therefore  was  compelled 
to  admit  two  kinds  of  substance,  forms  or  ideas,  and 
matter  or  body,  although  these  again  were  modes  of 
a  still  higher  unity,  the  One.^  "The  deep  thought 
of  the  learned  Lucretius "  ^  early  fascinated  Bruno,  Lucretius. 
and  Lucretius  gave  the  trend  not  only  to  much  of 
his  philosophy  but  also  to  the  style  of  his  writing. 
The  Latin  poems  were  suggested  by  Lucretius'  De 
rerum  natura^  to  which  they  are  far  inferior,  certainly, 
in  literary  charm  ;  the  philosophical  system  of  the  later 
writer  however  is  not  only  bolder  and  grander  in  itself, 
but  far  more  thoroughly  worked  out  into  the  detail  of 
exposition  and  of  criticism.  In  the  Italian  dialogues 
also  Lucretius  is  constantly  quoted, — frequently  from 
memory,  as  one  may  judge  from  the  errors  made. 

But  in  the  first  reaction  against  the  now  barren  Neopiaton- 
Peripatetic  philosophy,  the  school  to  which  Bruno 
turned,  with  so  many  of  his  fellow-countrymen,  was 
that  which  nominally  derived  from  Aristotle's  immediate 
predecessor.  The  revival  of  Platonism  in  its  se_condary 
form  of  Neoplatonism  was  one  of  the  most  marked 
traits  of  the  time.  In  connection  with  the  attempt  to 
unite  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches  in  1438,  a  Greek 
scholar  came  fi-om  Constantinople,  —  one  Georgius 
Gemistus  (Gemistus  Plethon),  —  to  the  court  at 
Florence,  and  there  opened  jhe  minds  of  the  Italians 
to  the  beauty  of  the  Platonic  philosophy.  Its  mystical 
world  of  ideas  charmed  all  who  were  embued  with  the 
new  spirit — romantic,  adventurous,  hopeful,  self-con- 

^  CauiCy  Lag.  247.  2  Qp,  Lat.  i.  3.  169. 


I 


ism. 


I      i 


i 


128 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


fident.  The  Ideas,  it  is  true,  were  materialised  and 
personified  in  the  transition  through  Neoplatonism, 
and  it  was  as  spirits  of  the  stars  and  worlds,  demons  of 
the  earth  and  sea,  the  living  souls  of  plants  and  stones, 
that  they  appealed  to  minds  fed  on  the  grosser  fare  of 
mediaeval  superstition.  Plethon's  lectures,  uncritical  as 
they  were,  ensured  the  spread  of  Platonism  in  Italy. 
Bessarion  of  Trebizond,  Marsilio  JFkJiiQ,  who  became 
head  of  the  Platonist  Academy  at  Florence,  and  Pico 
of  Mirandula  followed  in  his  steps.  Both  Ficino  and 
Pico  are  mentioned  by  Bruno,  and  his  knowledge  of 
Plato,  as  of  Plotinus,  Porphyry,  and  other  Neoplatonists, 
was  derived,  almost  certainly,  from  Ficino's  translations. 
The  teaching  of  Plato  was  interpreted  in  the  light  of, 
and  confused  by  admixture  with,  the  mystical  ideas  of 
Philo  and  Plotinus,  of  Porphyry  and  lamblichus,  of  the 
Jewish  Cabala,  and  the  mythical  sayings  of  Egyptian, 
Chaldean,  Indian,  and  Persian  sages.  The  new  world 
was  struggling  for  light,  and  it  rushed  towards  every 
gleam  of  brightness,  however  feeble.  Thus  in  the 
address  to  the  senate  at  Wittenberg  before  leaving  the 
university,  Bruno  named  the  foremost  of  those  whom 
he  regarded  as  Builders  of  the  Temple  of  Wisdom  : 
the  list  begins  with  the  Chaldeans  among  the  Egyptians 
and  Assyrians ;  there  follow  Zoroaster  and  the  Magi 
among  the  Persians,  the  Gymnosophists  of  India, 
Orpheus  and  Atlas  among  Thracians  and  Libyans, 
Thales  and  other  wise  men  among  the  Greeks, — and 
so  down  to  Paracelsus  in  Bruno's  own  century.  The 
fantastic  grouping  is  characteristic  of  the  uncritical 
syncretism  of  this  last  phase  of  Neoplatonism  :  Plethon 
had  conjoined  the  dogmas  of  Plato  with  those  of 
Zoroaster,  and  had  confirmed  both  by  illustrations 
from  Greek  mythology.     Among  the  most  widely  read 


r» 


II 


lAMBLICHUS 


129 


works  were  those  of  lamblichus  the  Platonist,  who  died 
early  in  the  fourth  century, — the  Life  of  Pythagoras^ 
and  especially  the  Mysteries  of  the  Egyptians}  Another 
work,  in  many  books,  which  has  not  come  down  to  us, 
but  which  penetrated  into  the  literature  of  the  middle 
ages,  was  on  the  Perfect  Theology  of  the  Chaldaeans.  To 
lamblichus,  as  to  Plotinus,  the  Ideal  world  was  a 
hierarchy  of  Gods,  from  the  ineffable,  unsearchable 
One,  down,  tier  upon  tier,  through  successive  emana- 
tions, to  the  Gods  that  are  immanent  in  the  world  we 
know  and  the  things  of  the  world.  In  the  scheme  not 
only  do  the  Ideas  of  Plato,  the  Numbers  of  Pythagoras, 
the  Forms  of  Aristotle,  find  a  place,  but  also  all  the 
Gods  of  the  Greek  mythology,  of  the  Egyptian  religion, 
of  the  Babylonian  and  Hebrew  esoteric  cults.  The 
same  character  is  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  the  so- 
called  Hermes  or  Mercurius  Trismegistus,  to  whom 
//  Bruno  constantly  appeals.*  It  was  partly  for  their 
cosmology,  more  in  accord  with  modern  thought  than 
that  of  the  Peripatetics  and  the  Church,  that  they  were 
read  ;  but  still  more  for  the  support  their  belief  in 
demonic  spirits,  governing  the  movements  of  the 
worlds  and  of  all  individual  things,  gave  to  magical 
and  theurgical  practices,  which  through  the  slackening 
of  the  rule  of  the  Church  were  now  universal.  "  AU 
stars  are  called  fires  by  the  Chaldaeans,"  writes  Bruno, 
*^  animals  of  fire,  ministers  of  fire,  innumerable  gods, 
divine  oracles."  *  "  The  Chaldaeans  and  the  wise  Rabbis 
endowed  the  stars  with  intelligence  and  feeling."  * 
"  There  are  some  who  are  by  no  means  thought  worthy 
of  a  hearing  among  philosophers, — the  Chaldaeans  and 

1  Cf.  Her.  Fur.y  Lag.  636.      If  not  by  lamblichus,  this  work  issued  certainly 
from  his  school,  to  which  Julian  the  Apostate  belonged. 

2  iE:.^.  0/.  Lat.  i.  I.  376.  3  ji,ij^  4  Of.  cit. 


m^ 


■i 


! I 


Egyptian 
theosophy. 


Hebrew 

Cabala. 


130 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Hebrew  sages,  who  attribute  body  to  the  omnipotent 
God,  calling  him  *  a  consuming  fire ' "  :  below  Him 
were  innumerable  Gods,  flames  of  fire,  and  spirits  of  air, 
which  were  subtle,  active,  mobile  bodies  :  souls  too  were 
spirits — that  is,  subtle  bodies  ;  and  Bruno  adds,  "  We 
do  not  pursue  this  mode  of  philosophising,  but  are  far 
from  despising  it,  nor  have  ever  thought  that  a  wise 
man  should  think  it  contemptible."  ^  The  theology  or 
theosophy  of  the  Egyptians  is  praised  in  the  Spg^m,^ — 
"  The  magical  and  divine  cult  of  the  Egyptians,  who 
saw  divinity  in  all  things,  and  in  all  actions  (each 
manifesting  divinity  in  its  own  special  way)  ;  and  knew 
by  means  of  its  forms  in  the  bosom  of  nature  how  to 
secure  the  benefits  they  derived  from  it — as  out  of  the 
sea  and  rivers  it  gives  fish,  out  of  the  deserts  wild 
beasts,  and  out  of  mines  metals,  out  of  trees  fruits,  and 
out  of  certain  parts  of  nature,  certain  animals,  certain 
brutes,  certain  plants,  are  gifted  certain  fates,  virtues, 
fortunes,  or  impressions.  Divinity  in  the  sea  was 
called  Neptune,  in  the  sun  Apollo,  in  the  earth  Ceres, 
in  the  deserts  Diana,  and  diversely  in  each  of  the  other 
species  of  things  :  as  divine  ideas,  they  were  diverse 
deities  in  Nature,  and  all  were  referred  to  one  deity  of 
deities,   one  source  of  Ideas   above   Nature."      The 

(passage  shows  clearly  the  connection  between  the 
revived  enthusiasm  for  the  old  pagan  cults  and  the  new 
but  dark  beginnings  of  independent  study  of  nature,  in 
Magic,  Divination,  Alchemy,  and  Astrology  :  equally 
close  was  the  connection  of  both  with  the  revival  of 
Pantheism,  the  conception  of  nature  as  a  single  whole 
throbbing  with  one  life,  springing  from  one  single 
source.  So  of  the  Hebrew  Cabala,  Bruno  writes,  "  its 
wisdom  (whatever  it  be  in  its  kind)  derives  from  the 


II 


PLATO  AND  PLOTINUS 


131 


1  Of,  Lat.  i.  2.  409. 


*  Lag.  53Z, 


Egyptians,  among  whom  Moses  was  brought  up." 
'*  In  the  first  place  it  attributes  to  the  first  principle 
a  name  ineffable,  from  which  proceed,  in  the  second 
place,  four  names,  afterwards  resolved  into  twelve, 
these  into  seventy-two,  these  into  one  hundred  and  forty- 
four,  etc.,  etc.  By  each  name  they  name  a  god,  an 
angel,  an  intelligence,  a  power  that  presides  over  a 
species  of  things, — so  the  whole  of  divinity  is  reduced 
back  to  one  source,  as  all  light  is  brought  back  to  the 
first,  self-shining  light ;  and  the  images  in  the  diverse, 
innumerable  mirrors, — particular  existences, — are  re- 
ferred to  one  formal,^  ideal  source."  ^ 

As  might  be  expected,  Plato  himself  was  best 
known  to  the  school  through  one  of  the  least  charac- 
teristic of  his  works,  the  Timaeus,  with  its  fanastic 
cosmology  and  demonology,  alongside  of  which  was 
placed  the  work  of  (the  Pseudo-)  Timaeus  of  Locris,  a 
later  writing,  based  upon  that  of  Plato,  although  pro- 
fessing to  belong  to  an  earlier  date  :  next  to  these  in 
importance  came  the  Republic^  with  the  theory  of  Ideas. 
It  was  from  the  Chaldaeans,  Egyptians,  and  Pythago- 

*  ue.  creative  or  original. 

*  Spaccioy  Lag.  533.  Bruno  was  probably  acquainted  with  the  De  arte 
cabbalistlca  (15 17)  of  Reuchlin  the  Platonist^  and  with  Pico  of  Mirandula's  Caba- 
Uitarum  selectiora  obscurioraque  dogmata.  Of  the  Cabala  itself  the  first  part  (Creation) 
was  published  in  Hebrew  at  Mantua  1562,  a  translation  into  Latin  at  Basle  1587  : 
the  second  part,  The  Book  of  Splendour^  Hebrew,  1560,  a  translation,  not,  as  it  seems, 
until  the  following  century.  It  is  unlikely  that  Bruno  read  Hebrew,  although  he 
makes  use  of  Hebrew  letters  among  his  symbols.  But  there  were  many  writings  on 
the  Cabala  from  which  he  could  have  derived  his  idea  of  their  teaching — e,g, 
Agrippa's  Occulta  Pkiloscphtay  to  which  he  was  indebted  for  much  of  the  De  Monade, 
The  Cabala  {:.e,  *' traditional  teaching  ")  is  a  collection  of  dogmas  made  about  the 
ninth  and  thirteenth  centuries;  it  was  certainly  influenced  by  Neoplatonism,  and 
contained  the  interpretation  of  creation  as  emanation  in  graduated  series  of  beings 
from  the  one  supreme  Being,  of  the  Logos  or  Divine  Word  as  intermediary  between 
the  Supreme  and  the  lower  beings  (viz.  the  material  world  and  all  sensible  objects)  : 
the  elements  of  the  Logos  are  the  Sephiroth,  the  ten  numbers  of  Pythagoras,  corre- 
sponding to  the  chief  virtues  or  qualities  ;  next  to  these  are  the  ideas  or  forms,  then 
the  world-souls,  and  last  of  all  material  things. 


7 


( 


132 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


reans  that  Plato  was  supposed  to  have  derived  his  cos- 
mology. It  is,  however,  with  the  system  of  Plotinus 
that  Bruno's  earlier  theory  has  the  closest  affinity  :  he 
passed  far  beyond  that  system,  as  the  following  chapters 
may  show,  but  many  of  the  ideas  that  had  come  down 
from  the  master  remained  throughout  part  of  the  basis 
of  Bruno's  thought :  such  are,  for  example,  the  idea  of 
I  the  Universal  Intelligence, — distinct  from  the  One,  the 
Highest  and  Unknowable  Being,  or  God,—  as  the  soul 
of  the  world  and  the  source  of  the  forms  of  material 
things  ;^  the  rationes  or.  ideas  which  are  contained  in  it 
mould  and  form  all  things  from  the  seed  onwards  :  the 
seed  is  a  miniature  world  containing  implicitly^  i.e.  in 
its  ratio^  form  or  soul,  the  perfect  thing.^  The  con- 
ception again  of  the  lower,  sensible  world,  as  an 
imitation  of  the  higher,  the  intelligible,  is  derived  from 
Plotinus,  as  is  that  of  the  seven  grades  or  steps  of 
emanation  from  the  First  Principle  to  the  material 
world,  which  correspond  to  the  seven  grades  by  which 
the  human  mind  rises  from  the  knowledge  of  sensible 
things  to  that  of  the  Highest,  the  Good.^  The  order 
of  knowledge  corresponds  step  for  step  with  the  order  of 
emanation — of  creation.  Most  significant  of  all  for  the 
development  of  Bruno's  philosophy  was  Plotinus'  con- 
ception of  an  "  intelligible  matter,"  which  is  common 
to  all  the  different  beings  and  species,  in  the  intelligible 
world,  just  as  brute  matter  is  that  which  is  common  to 
all  kinds  of  corporeal  objects.*  Again  from  Plotinus 
derives  the  distinction  that  the  matter  underlying  the 
intelligible  world  is  all  things  and  all  together  :  having 
in  it  (implicitly)  all  forms,  there  is  nothing  into  which 
it  may  change  :    whereas  the  matter  of  the   sensible 

^  Causa,  Lag.  231.  '  Op.  Lat.  i.  2.  196.  *  Ih.  ii.  i.  48. 

*  Plotinus,  Emeadsj  ii.  4.  4  ;  cf.  Bruno's  Causa^  Lag.  267. 


PLOTINUS 


133 


world  becomes  all  by  change  in  its  parts,  becomes  at 
successive  moments  this  and  that,  is  therefore  at  all 
times  in  diversity,  change,  movement.  Matter  of  either 
kind  is  never  without  form,  but  all  forms  are  in  them 
in  different  ways — in  the  one  in  the  instant  of  eternity, 
in  the  other  in  the  instants  of  time  ;  in  the  one  all  at 
once,  in  the  other  successively,  in  the  one  complicitly^  in 
the  other  explicitly}  The  same  idea  is  attributed  in 
the  'De  Immenso  (Book  V.)  to  the  Platonists, — "that 
God  has  imbued  celestial  matter  with  all  forms  at  once, 
but  gives  them  to  elemental  matter  in  single  moments, 
just  as  he  has  poured  into  the  nature  of  the  Gods  all 
ideas  once  for  all,  but  instils  them  into  animal  nature 
day  by  day.  And  as  in  the  order  of  minds  there  is  an 
ultimate  principle  which  is  incorruptible,  so  in  the  order 
of  bodies.  For  the  order  of  bodies  follows  that  of 
intelligences  as  a  footmark  follows  the  foot,  as  a  shadow 
follows  the  body  ;  hence  whatever  order  is  proved  to 
hold  of  minds,  the  same  will  be  found  to  hold  of  bodies."^ 
It  only  remained  to  identify  the  two  kinds  of  matter, 
the  divine  and  the  "elemental,"  the  spiritual  and  the 
corporeal,  to  obtain  the  pure  Pantheistic  naturalism  of 
the  middle  period  of  Bruno's  philosophy  :  at  that  stage 
he  was  no  longer  in  sympathy  with  the  Neoplatonist 
psychology,  and  denied  the  doctrine  of  a  separate  in- 
telligence or  understanding  in  man,  an  intelligence,  that 
is,  of  different  origin  from  sense,  and  therefore  of 
different  kind  ;  he  rejected  also  their  view  that  the 
imagination  which  is  the  source  of  instinct  in  animals, 
differs  from  human  imagination,  and  their  assertion  of  a 
difference  in  kind  between  reason  and  intellect  in  man. 
For  Bruno,  as  the  order  of  nature  was  throughout  the 
same  in  kind,  constituted  of  similar  elements,  so  the 

^  Cauio,  Lag.  27 1  ;  cf.  Plot.  Enn.  ii.  4.  3. 


1.  2.  117. 


y 


134 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


order  of  thought  or  knowledge  was  one  in  kind,  from 
its  lowest  phase  in  sense,  to  its  highest  in  the  divine 
ecstasy.  In  the  Heroici  Furori  (as  again  in  the  post- 
humous De  Vinculis  in  genere)  the  Platonic  doctrine  of 
the  ascent  to  the  ecstatic  vision  and  love  of  divine 
beauty,  from  sense-perception  and  the  material  feeling 
for  sensible  beauty,  is  the  essential  topic  throughout : 
and  in  both  Bruno  is  largely  indebted  for  his  symbolism 
to  the  Neoplatonist  mystics. 

The  renewed  passion  for  physical  science^  brought 
another  school  of  philosophy  into  prominence — the 
Arabian.^  The  chief  commentaries  of  this  school  on 
Aristotle,  as  well  as  many  of  their  original  writings, 
were  translated  and  published  before  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  Their  interest  being  directed  rather 
towards  the  physical  and  metaphysical  writings  of  the 
master,  than  towards  the  logical,  they  helped  to  satisfy 
and  to  foster  the  growing  spirit  of  inquiry,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  spread  abroad  a  more  exact  knowledge  of 
the  real  Aristotle  than  was  to  be  derived  from  the 
Christian  commentators,  whose  philosophy  was  much 
less  in  sympathy  with  Aristotle's  than  was  imagined. 
The  general  trend  of  the  Arabian  school  in  meta- 
physics was  towards  a  modified  Aristotelianism,  leavened 
by  the  Neoplatonist  conception  of  the  essential  unity  of 
all  being  and  all  thought,  particular  things  and  particular 
ideas  being  a  free  outflow  from  the  One,  into  which  they  of 
necessity  return  again  without  affecting  its  fundamental 
nature.  BfiiiK>  was  familiar  with  Avicenna^  Avem^ace^ 
Avicehon,*'  Algazel^  and  above  all  Averroes.     Avice- 

*  Vide  Monk,  Melanges  de  Philosophie  juive  et  Arabe^  Paris,  1589  ;  and  Dictiomutire 
des  sciences  Philosopkiques^  Paris,  1844-52. 

'  Ibn  Sina,  980-1037  a.d.  ;  cf.  0/>.  Lat.  Hi.  458,  475. 

•  Op.  Lmt,  i.  1. 223,  called  by  Bruno  Hispanus^  but  really  an  Arabian,  Ibn  Badja, — 
d.  1 138.  *  A  Jew,  Ibn^birpl,  fl.  1050.  »  AljahaMali,  1059-iin  a.d. 


II 


AVICEBRON 


135 


brori  or  Avencebrol  was  the  author  of  the  famous  Fons 
VitaCy  "the  Source  of  Life,"  which  gained  a  quite 
undeserved  notoriety  for  its  supposed  materialism.  Bruno 
did  not  know  it  at  first  hand,  but  through  quotations 
in  the  translated  Arabian  writings,^  and  criticisms  in  the 
Scholastics.  Accordingly  his  idea  of  it  is  by  no  means 
accurate.^  He  knew  that  Avicebron  had  spoken  of 
matter  as  divine,  that  he  had  reduced  even  the  "  sub- 
stantial forms"  of  Aristotle  to  transitory  phases  of 
matter — "the  stable,  the  eternal,  progenetrix,  mother 
of  all  things,"  ^ — and  had  shown  the  logical  necessity  of 
assuming  a  matter,  or  ground,  out  of  which  corporeal 
nature  on  the  one  hand,  incorporeal  or  spiritual  on  the 
other,  are  differentiated.*  It  is  clear  that  this  under- 
lying matter  was  not  material  in  the  ordinary  sense,  but 
a  unity  which  in  itself  was  neither  corporeal  nor  spiritual, 
yet  in  its  different  aspects  was  both  at  once.  That  is  a 
conception  which  formed  one  of  the  main  theses  in 
Bruno's  philosophy.  Directly  or  indirectly,  he  drew 
from  the  Fons  Vitae  the  thought  of  a  common  some- 
thing which  runs  through  all  differences,  which  is  their 
basis,  and  gives  them  reality,  which  stands  to  them  in 
the  relation  of  Aristotle's  matter  to  forms  :  under  the 
differences  of  bodily  objects  there  lies  one  common 
matter,  under  the  differences  of  spiritual  beings  another, 
and  under  the  differences  of  these  two  secondary 
"  matters  "  lies  a  primary  matter  in  which  both  are  one. 
So  too  the  progress  of  thought  is  from  the  most  com- 
plex, or  composite,  material  bodies, — through  the  less 
complex,  the  spiritual, — to  the  highest  and  simplest,  the 


1  Cf.  Op.  Lat.  iii.  696. 

'  Vide  Wittman,  Giord.  Bruno's  Bexiebungen  zu  Avencebrol  in  the  ArcAiv  JSr 
Gesckichte  der  Phil.  13.  2  (1900). 

'  Causa^  Lag.  253  j  cf.  246,  and  Op.  Lat.  iii.  696.  '  CauuL,  Lag.  265. 


.1 


■^^-i^l 


-^r*- 


136 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Aver- 
foes  : 


One.^  Of  Alga2^ers  Makacid—z  resume  of  the  chief 
philosophical  systems,  which  were  criticised  in  a 
second  part  of  the  work — z  translation  was  published 
in  1506.  Although  an  orthodox  theologian,  he  taught 
Bruno  that  the  Sacred  Books  had  as  their  end  not  so 
much  truth  or  knowledge  about  reality  "  as  goodness 
of  custom,  the  advantage  of  the  civil  body,  harmonious 
living  together  of  peoples,  and  practice  for  the  benefit 
of  human  intercourse,  maintenance  of  peace,  increase  of 
republics  "  ;  *  in  other  words,  that  the  Bible  claimed  no 
authority  in  regard  to  matters  of  historical  fact  or  of 
natural  science,  but  contained  a  revelation  of  moral 
or  practical  rather  than  of  speculative  or  theoretical 
truth.^  For  Averroes,  Bruno  has  the  highest  respect :  * 
i^^^Ro«c'^^  he  constantly  speaks  of  him  as  "  the  most  subtle  and 
1198)."  weighty  of  the  Peripatetics  "  ;  ''  Averroes,  though  an 
Arab  and  ignorant  of  Greek  (!),  is  more  at  home  in  the 
Peripatetic  doctrine  than  any  Greek  I  have  read  :  and 
he  would  have  understood  it  better,  had  he  not  been  so 
devoted  to  his  deity  Aristotle."  ^  This  blind  faith  in 
Aristotle  was  the  weak  spot  in  Averroes'  armour,  and 
the  cause  of  many  of  his  subtleties.  "  He  could  not 
believe  that  Aristotle,  whose  knowledge  was  co-extensive 
with  creation,  could  have  erred;  rather  than  deny 
Aristotle,  he  refused  to  believe  his  own  senses."  *  In 
philosophical  theory  there  were  at  least  two  points  of 

'  Cf.  Wittman,  loc.  cit.  «  Cma,  Lag.  170. 

•  Her.  Fur,  Lag.  742.  Algarcl  is  connected  with  Averroes  by  Bruno  in  another 
argument  against  authority,— that  the  mere  habit  of  and  familiarity  with  a  given 
belief  does  not  authorise  iu  truth,  for  "  those  who  from  boyhood  and  youth  are 
accustomed  to  eat  poison,  come  to  such  a  state  that  it  is  transformed  into  a  sweet 
and  good  nourishment  for  them,  and  on  the  contrary  they  come  to  abhor  what  is 
really  good  and  pleasant  according  to  common  nature.'* 

*  A  Latin  translation  of  Averroes'  Commentaries  was  published  in  1472,  and  one  of 
his  criticisms  of  Algazel  [Destructio  destructionis)  in  1497  and  in  1527. 


*  Causae  Lag.  271,  and  Op.  Lat.  1.  2.  411. 


•  i.  I.  370* 


, 


II 


THE  SCHOLASTICS 


137 


// 


contact  between  Bruno  and  the  great  Arabian — one  was 
the  doctrine  that  forms,  i.e.  individual  particular  objects, 
are  sent  out  from  and  therefore  originally  contained  in 
matter,  or,  in  modern  phrase,  that  the  evolution  of 
natural  objects  is  from  within  outwards,  not  imposed 
upon  nature  by  an  alien  and  separate  creator :  ^  the 
other  was  the  theory  of  a  universal  intelligence  per- 
vading and  illuminating  all  human  minds,  yet  remaining 
one  and  the  same  in  all,  itself  an  emanation  from  the 
Divine,  and  the  lowest  in  the  order  of  intelligences.* 
Bruno  did  not,  however,  speak  of  it  as  separate  from  the 
finite  minds,  but  as  immanent  in  them  :  nor  did  he 
regard  it  as  the  only  immortal  element  in  man. 

Of  the  Scholastics  proper,  from  whom  much  at  least  ^^bertm 
of  Bruno's  terminology  is  derived,  two  seem  to  have     *'^''"'' 
influenced  him  most  strongly: — Albert  the  Great,  whose  ■ 
interest  in  natural  science  entitled  him  to  a  place  in  the 
temple  of  wisdom  :   "  He  had  no  equal  in  his  time,  and 
was  far  superior  to  Aristotle,  whose  school,  in  which  he 
ranked  according  to  the   conditions  of  his  age,    was 
unworthy  of  him  "  ;*   and  Thomas  Aquinas,  the  angelic 
doctor,   "  honour  and  glory  of  all  and  every  race  of  - 
theologians  and  of  Peripatetic  philosophers."  *     Gener- 
ally speaking,  however,  the  Scholastic  is  to  Bruno  the 
pedant,  the  dabbler  in  words,  as  contrasted  with  the 
student  of  nature  or  of  reality.^     Under  this  condemna- 
tion   fell    two   of  the   greatest   innovators   upon    the 
Aristotelian  philosophy  of  his  own  time, — Ranius,  and 

'  Causa^  Lag.  271  :  on  Averroes  cf.  Op.  Lat.  i.  i.  221,  224,  337,  338,  etc. 

2  Her.  Fur.  Lag.  677. 

^  Op.  Lat.  i.  I.  16.  Albertus  lived  from  1193  to  1280  a.d.  There  are  frequent 
references  to  the  spurious  writings  attributed  to  him,  in  Bruno's  De  Magia  Mathe- 
matical etc. 

■*  i.  2.  415.  Cf.  Sig,  Sig.  i\.  2.  190,  for  a  reputed  miracle  related  of  Saint 
Thomas. 

'  Cf.  the  ridicule  in  Lag.  361  and  563. 


t<j 


\ 


138 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


.1 
f 

1235-1305 


Patrizzi.  The  great  logician  was  merely  "  a  French  arch- 
pedant,  who  has  written  The  School  upon  the  Liberal 
Arts^  and  the  Animadversions  against  Aristotle.  We 
may  admit  that  he  understood  Aristotle,  but  he  under- 
stood him  badly  ;  and  had  he  understood  him  well,  he 
would  perhaps  have  been  minded  to  make  honourable 
war  upon  him,  as  the  judicious  Telesio  has  done.**^  The 
fashionable  philosopher  and  Platonist  is  "  un  altro 
stereo  di  pedantic  an  Italian  who  has  soiled  so  many 
quires  with  his  Discussiones  Peripateticae ;  we  cannot 
say  he  understood  Aristotle,  either  well  or  ill,  but 
he  has  read  and  re-read,  stitched  and  unstitched,  and 
compared  with  a  thousand  other  Greek  authors,  friendly 
and  unfriendly  to  Aristotle,  and  in  the  end  has  under- 
gone great  labour,  not  only  without  any  profit,  but  also 
with  very  great  disprofit,  so  that  he  who  would  see  into 
what  presumptuous  folly  and  vanity  the  pedantic  habit 
may  plunge  a  man,  let  him  look  at  that  book,  before 
the  memory  of  it  is  lost."  Tocco  has  laid  his  finger 
upon  the  reason  for  Bruno's  dislike  of  these  moderns, 
and  it  explains  his  objection  to  the  Scholastics  generally: 
— it  was  that  they  attempted  to  remodel  and  reform  the 
Logic  and  Rhetoric  of  Aristotle,  the  very  parts  of  his 
work  which  Bruno  regarded  as  the  most  perfect, — and 
neglected  the  physical  works,  the  theory  of  which  had 
so  pojKgnful  an  authority  to  back  it,  and  therefore  all 
the  more  required  the  energies  of  the  stronger  minds  of 
the  time  to  be  directed  upon  it.* 

One  of  the  mediaeval  writers  Bruno  associated  so 
*  closely  with  himself,  that  his  indebtedness  might  easily  be 
exaggerated  :  this   was  Raymond   LuUy,   whose   grim 
figure  stands  out  from  the  shadowy  thirteenth  century, 

^  CausA,  Lag.  246. 
'  Tocco,  Fanti  fiu  rtctnti,  etc.,  p.  538. 


1 


II  LULLISM  139 

— the  author  of  the  celebrated  Art  of  Reasoning}  The  | 
object  of  the  Art  was  to  tabulate  the  primary  forms  or 
elements  of  thought,  and  their  modes  of  combination, 
from  which  data,  it  was  believed,  any  process  of 
reasoning,  however  complex,  might  be  carried  out, 
without  greater  expenditure  of  energy  than  in  perform- 
ing an  arithmetical  operation  with  any  of  the  first 
nine  numbers.  There  was  no  question  of  a  possible 
divorce  between  thought  and  reality.  The  result  of 
any  such  process  of  rational  calculus  properly  carried 
out  was  truth.  Bruno  thought  with  LuUy  that 
the  ultimate  ideas  within  reach  of  human  thought 
were  at  the  same  time  substantial  elements  in  reality 
and  that  the  completest  knowledge  of  reality — short Jj 
of  the  Absolute  —  was  within  the  power  of  human 
reason  to  achieve.  LuUy  included  in  this  rational 
sphere  the  dogmas  of  Christian  theology :  faith  was  for 
the  many,  who  must  be  driven  to  believe ;  reason  for 
the  few,  the  wise.  Lully's  method  attracted,  and  his 
teaching  influenced  nearly  all  the  greater  minds  of  the 
later  middle  ages,  and  of  the  Renaissance.  They 
became  a  source  of  as  bitter  contention  as  the  doctrines 
of  Aristotle  himself.  Bruno  speaks  of  Lully  as  "  almost 
^iyiyie  "  ;  Agrippa,  after  being  an  ardent  follower,  came 
to  see  the  vanity  of  the  system,  and  Bacon  called  it 
a  method  of  imposture.  At  different  times  Bruno 
expounded,  criticised,  and  expanded  the  Art.  He 
claims  ^  to  have  "  embellished  the  method  of  him  whom 
the  best  leaders  among  philosophers  admire,  follow, 
imitate."      Duns   Scotus  ("  Scotigena "),  Nicholas   of 


fl 


1  Besides  the  several  works  on  the  Art  of  Reasoning,  Lully  had  written  also  on 
theology  and  on  medicine,  and  Bruno,  in  his  (posthumous)  Medicira  Lulliaruty  gave  a 
compendium  of  the  latter  group  of  writings. 

'  De  Lampade  Combinatorial  Op.  Lat,  ii.  2.  234. 


"^^a 


I' 


/ 


1 40 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Cusa,  Paracelsus,  Agrippa,  are  named,  unjustly,  as 
having  drawn  their  chief  doctrines  from  this  source  : 
Lefevre  and  Bouille^  cited  among  his  most  recent 
followers.  The  art  was  taught  "by  some  divine 
genius  to  a  rude  uncultured  hermit,  and  although  it 
seems  to  issue  from  one  too  dense  and  stupid,  yet  it 
excels  the  teaching  of  any  famous  Attic  orator  in  this 
kind,  as  a  crop  of  wheat  excels  one  of  barley.  It  seemed 
to  us  unfitting  that  this  work,  struggling  upwards  to 
the  light,  against  the  envy  of  oppressing  darkness, 
should  be  suffered  to  perish  and  be  lost.''  ^  Yet  Bruno 
by  no  means  thought  Lully's  exposition  perfect.  Of 
his  own  Lullian  work,  the  De  Compendiosa  Architectural 
he  says  that  it  *'  suffices  for  the  understanding,  estimating, 
and  prosecuting  of  the  art  of  Lully,  by  those  who  are 
skilled  in  the  vulgar  philosophy.  For  in  it  is  expressed 
in  one  whole,  all  that  is  in  Lully's  many  'Arts,'  in 
which  he  always  seems  to  be  saying  the  same  thing ; 
you  have  there  all  that  is  in  the  Ars  Brevis^  the  Ars 
Magnay  and  other  books  bearing  the  name  of  Arbor 
ScientiaCy  Inventionis^  Artes  demonstrativaCy  mixtionis 
principiorum^  Auditus  cabalistici^  or  any  other  of  that 
kind,  in  which  the  poor  fellow  strove  always  to  express 
the  same  thing." 

It  was  the  dream  of  universal  knowledge  that 
attracted  Bruno  and  others  to  Lullism,  just  as  the  dream 
of  universal  power  over  nature  attracted  the  greater 
minds  of  the  Renaissance  to  the  pseudo -science  of 
Alchemy.  The  same  idea  is  at  the  root  of  both.  All 
things  are  in  all  things,  i.e.  the  one  fundamental  nature 
is  in  each  and  every  individual  thing,  therefore  out  of 
any  one  may  be  produced  any  other.     So  in  the  idea  of 

'  Faber  Stapulensit  (r.   1500},  and  Carolus  Bovillut  {c.  1470- 1553).    Both  were 
rather  followers  of  Cusanus.  '  Op.  Lat,  ii.  2.  242.  '  ii.  2.  61. 


II 


NICOLAUS  OF  CUSA 


141 


any  one  thing,  the  knowledge  of  all  and  any  others  is 
necessarily  contained,  requiring  only  a  proper  method 
for  its  extraction,  as  out  of  the  seed  may  be  brought 
the  great  tree.  Therefore,  to  Bruno,  the  hermit  Lully 
seemed  "  omniscient  and  almost  divine,"  his  method  an 
inspiration  from  above.^  There  is  little,  however,  to 
connect  Bruno  with  the  substantive  teaching  of  Lully, 
apart  from  the  method.  He  explicitly  rejects,  for 
example,  the  main  contention  of  Lully,  that  the  Christian 
dogmas  are  capable  of  demonstration  by  reason. — 
"  Those  relations  {i.e.  between  God  and  man),  which 
have  been  revealed  to  the  worshippers  of  Christ  alone, 
are  contrary  to  all  reasoning,  philosophy,  other  faiths 
and  superstitions,  and  allow  of  no  demonstration  but  of 
faith  only,  in  spite  of  what  Lully  in  his  madness 
{delirando)  attempted  to  do,  in  face  of  the  opinion  of 
the  great  theologians."  * 

Foremost  of  all,  however,  of  the  influences  which  irtcdau 
directed  Bruno's  thought  was  that  of  the  Cardinal  ^'"^'" 
Nicolaus  of  Cusa  (Nicholas  ChrypfFs).  A  "  pre-refor- 
mation  reformer,"  he  stands  both  in  theology  and 
philosophy  between  the  old  and  the  new  eras,  summing 
up  in  his  own  theory  the  purest  theology  and  the  most 
refined  philosophy  of  the  Middle  Ages,  yet  inevitably 
pointing  forwards  to  a  scientific  and  religious  reform 
which  should  transcend  both.  "  Where,"  cried  Bruno 
in  his  oration  at  Wittenberg,  '*  will  you  find  his  equal  ? 
and  the  greater  he  is  the  fewer  are  they  to  whom  he  is 
accessible.  Had  not  the  robe  of  the  priest  infected  his 
genius  it  would  have  been  not  merely  equal  to  but  far 
superior   to  that   of  Pythagoras."^     "He   knew  and 


^  op.  Lat,  ii.  2.  329,  3.  297. 


2  De  Comp.  Ardu  ii.  2.  42. 


•  i.  I.  17.     On  Cusanus  v.  Falckenberg,  Grunekuige  der  Philosophic  da  Nicolaus 
Cusanus,  1880,   Uebingcr,  Philosophic  dcs  N.  C,   1880,  and    Gotteslehrc  des  N.  C, 


142 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


■  ■    I 


discerned  much,  and  is  truly  one  of  the  most  gifted 
natures  that  have  ever  breathed  the  air  of  heaven  ;  but 
as  to  the  apprehension  of  truth,  he  was  like  a  swimmer 
in  tempestuous  waters,  cast  now  high  now  low,  he  did 
not  see  the  light  continuously,  openly,  clearly  ;  did  not 
swim  as  in  calm  and  quiet  waters,  but  interruptedly,  at 
intervals,  for  he  had  not  cast  off  all  the  false  principles 
which  he  had  received  from  the  common  doctrine — 
his  starting-point."  ^ 

A  sketch  of  the  philosophy  of  the  Cusan  will  show 
in  how  close  a  relation  Bruno  stands  to  him,  yet  how 
great  is  the  difference  in  outcome  between  the  two 
philosophies.  Clemens,  whose  sympathies  are  with  the 
orthodox  theologian,  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  this  is 
"the  real  and  direct  source  from  which  Bruno  drew 
with  both  hands,  the  philosophy  to  which  he  owes  many 
of  the  main  principles  of  his  nature-philosophy,  and 
which  he  has  to  thank  for  all  the  essentials  of  teaching 
said  to  be  peculiar  to  himself"  ;  and  Falckenberg  is 
equally  inclined  to  underrate  the  originality  of  the 
Italian  in  preference  to  the  German  philosopher.  The 
outset  of  Cusanus'  philosophy  is  from  a  theory  of 
knowledge  which  he  held  from  Platonist  traditions  : — 
Knowledge  is  posterior  both  in  time  and  in  value  to 
Being,  or  Reality,  of  which  it  is  ^t  best  a  copy  or  a 
sign,  hence  Reality  can  never  be  wholly  comprehended 
by  it.  Every  human  assertion  is  at  best  a  "  conjec- 
ture," a  hypothesis  or  approach  to  truth,  but  never  the 
absolute  truth  itself.  Only  in  the  Divine  spirit  are 
thought  and  reality  one ;  the  Divine  thought  is  at  the 
same  time  creative,  human  only  reflective,  imitative, 
thus  the  Ultimate  Being  is  and  must  remain  incompre- 

1888,  F.  J.  Clemens,  Giord.  Bruno  und  Nihiaus  ven  Cusa^  1847,  Scharpff,  Des  N, 
'vm  a  wicAstigste  Sekrifien,  1862.  ^  Jnfitiito,  Lag.  348. 


II  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CUSANUS  143 

hensible  for  human  minds.  So  Bruno  also  taught. 
The  Cusan  did  not,  however,  reject  on  this  account  all 
human  knowledge.  On  the  contrary,  reason  approxi- 
mates ever  more  and  more  closely  to  the  Divine  mind, 
as  a  polygon  approaches  more  and  more  to  the  form  of 
a  circle  when  the  number  of  its  sides  is  increased  ;  as  it 
never  becomes  an  actual  circle,  so  the  Divine  reason 
may  be  known  ever  more  and  more  truly  through 
human  reason,  but  never  quite  truly.  It  is  the  know- 
ledge of  this  our  essential  ignorance  of  the  Divine  that 
brings  us  nearest  to  it.^  Thus  although  from  one 
point  of  view  all  that  is  best  in  human  experience  may 
be  attributed  to  the  Divine  nature  in  a  higher  form 
{positive  theology),  from  another  every  predicate,  even 
the  highest,  may  be  denied  of  it  {negative  theology),  or 
from  still  a  third  standpoint  {mystical  theology),  con- 
trary predicates  equally  hold  or  do  not  hold  of  the 
Divine.  This  "coincidence,  of  .contraries/'  suggested 
perhaps  by  the  tradition  of  Heraclitus  and  Empedocles^ 
was  in  the  Cusan  a  principle  of  knowledge  inerely. 
The  Divine  was  at  once  the  greatest  and  the  least ; 
greatest  because  we  could  not  imagine  it  added  to,  for 
it  was  the  all ;  least  because,  being  truly  existent,  we 
could  not  imagine  anything  taken  away  from  it.  It  is 
owing  to  the  limits  of  human  thought,  therefore,  that  God 
is  at  once  greatest  and  least,  equal  and  unequal,  many 
and  one ;  God  Himself  is  free  from  all  contradiction, 
the  apparent  contraries  of  our  understanding  are  in  Him 
one  and  the  same.  So,  to  our  Jmagiflaaon,  the  infinite 
circle  coincides  with  the  infinite  straight' line,  and  a  top 
spinning  with  its  fastest  movement  appears  to  §tand 
stilL.^  \ 

Bruno  extols  the  greatness  of  this  discovery "  Con- 

*  Cf.  Cusanus*  De  docta  ignorantia. 


\ll 


i| 


.X>uJ^*i^'  CvSa/S>R<JU(? 


J-^id  UH^'-^' 


'il*f"»-»^ 


<.! 


5 


I 


144 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


sidering  it  physically,  mathematically,  morally,  one  sees 
that  the  philosopher  who  saw  into  the  coincidence  of 
contraries  made  a  discovery  of  the  highest  importance, 
and  that  the  magician  who  knows  to  seek  it  where  it  is 
'is  no  feeble  practician."  ^     Yet,  although  he  made  use  of 
the  same  geometrical  illustrations,  and  believed  himself 
to  be  substantially  following  Cusanus,  his  theory  was 
widely  different.    The  coincidence'springs  in  Bxjuno,  not^ 
from  the  limitations  of  the  human  mind,  but  from  the 
fulness  of  the  Divine  nature.     It  is  not  iaJjod  as  the 
Itonscendent  unknowable    Being   that  the  coincidence 
inheces,  but  in  the  infinite  universe  as  one  with  God, 
which  is  in  itself  at  once  the  greatest  and  the  least,  the 
maximum  and  the  mimmum.     Since   nature   is   per- 
meated by  God,  in  everything,  in  the  least  of  things,  is 
God  the  greatest ;  the  least  is  the  greatest,  has  in  it 
the  nature  of  the  whole,  and  so,  too,  the  greatest  is  the 
1  least.     In  Bruno  it  is   a  pantheistic^  in  the   Cusan   a 
'^  I  theistic^  doctrine.     The  same  conception  occurs  again 
in  its  different  meanings,  when  both  compare  God  to 
an  infinite  circle  in  which  centre  and  circumference  are 
one ;  in  Cusanus  it  is  to  our  knowledge  that  He  so 
appears,  in  Bruno  He  really  tf  infinite,  and  is  with  His 
whole  nature  at  any  point  or  centre,  as  well  as  in  the 
{whole,  the  circumference. 
The     /    With  the  Cusan  the  threefold  nature  of  the  Highest 
Tnnity.|g^.^^  is  deduced  as  a  necessity  of  Reason  :  it  is  (i) 
unity  eternal ;  (2)  sameness   or    equality  eternal ;  and 
(3)  the    union    of    unity    and    equality.      As    there 
cannot  be  three  eternal  and  highest  beings,  these  three 
are  necessarily  one — the  Unity  (the  Father)  produces 
or  begets  from  itself  the  same  (the  Son),  and  out  of 
both  springs  their  union  (the  Holy  Ghost),  yet  each  of 

^  Spaccio,  Lag.  420. 


II 


PROOF  OF  THE  TRINITY  145 

these  in  the  One  is  one  and  the  same.J    In  the  universe, 
the   created   world,   there   is   also   a   Trinity,  since   it 
is   a   copy    or    reflection    of    the    Divine.      (i)   Pos- 
sibility   or   Matter,  the   unlimited,  indeterminate,  but 
capable    of    being    limited    and    determined,    corre- 
sponds to  the  unity  of  the  eternal ;  (2)  Actuality,  or 
Form,   the   limiting    or    determining   something,    that 
which  limits,  corresponds  to  the  sameness  or  equality 
of    the    Eternal;     and    (3)    the    unifying    movement 
by  which   the   possible  receives   actuality,  matter   re- 
ceives  form,    implying   a   spirit   of  union,   of  Love, 
corresponds  to  the  Absolute  Union,  the  Holy  Ghost.^ 
At    a    later  .stage   of    his   philosophy,   however,    the 
Cusan  gave  a  second  deduction  of  the  Trinity.*     God 
is     both    Absolute    Possibility,   Absolute    Power    or 
Potency  (the  Creative  Word,  the  Son),  and  the  union 
of  both   in  Absolute  Reality;    yet   these   are  merely 
different  aspects  or  points  of  view  of  the  Eternal  Being. 
Again,  God   is   the   identity  of  knowing,  or  intellect, 
the  knowable  or  intelligible  (the  Word),  and  love,  as 
the  inter-relation  of  each  with  each,  the  striving  of  the 
knowing  after  the  knowable,  its  highest  good.*     Bruno 
also   adopts    the    Trinity   of    Possibility   or    Matter, 
Potency  or  Form,  and  Reality,   but  it  is  applied  at 
once  to  God  and  to  Nature  as  two  sides  of  the  same 
thing.     As  the  Divine  potency  is  infinite,  so  is  nature, 
its  expression,  infinite  ;  matter  and  form  do  not  in  their 
origin  stand  opposed  to  one  another,  as  if  separated 
from  one  another,  any  more  than  power  and  possibility 
are  separate  in  God  ;  aU  that  can  be  is  realised  ;  matter 
has  in  itself  all  possible  forms,  and  produces  these  out 
of  itself  in  the  successive  moments  of  time  ;  the  universe 

*  t?J  <^cta  ignorantia.  i.  7.     Alchoran,  ii.  7,  8. 
«  Docu  tffior.  ii.  7.  3  jr),  potittt.  *  Alch^an,  ii.  6. 

L 


!li 


it! 


rr 


PI' 


I 


|l 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


is  eternal,  therefore,  in  order  that  the  infinite  power 
may  in  it  be  realised.     In  all  these  respects  Bruno  trans- 
forms the  orthodox  Cusanus'  conception  of  a  created 
and  finite  world ;  although  nowhere  perhaps  has  the 
idea  of  a  creation  been  more  skilfully  woven  into  a 
profound  philosophical  system  than  in  the  Cardinal's 
quaint  dialogues.     The  Cusan   does  not  attempt  the 
impossible,  to  account  for  the  fact  of  creation — "  God 
comprehends  (or  contains)  all  things,  for  all  things  are 
in  Him,  and  He  unfolds  all  things  out  of  Himself,  for 
in  all  things  He  lives  " ;  but  the  essence  and  the  process 
of  the  comprehension  and  the  unfolding  are  unknow- 
able by  us,  just  as  we  can  never  understand  how  chance 
comes  to  be  united  with  necessity  (creation)  in  the  world. 
It  is  to  this  incomprehensible  partnership  that  the  im- 
perfections  of  created   things   are   attributed.     In  its 
reality  the  universe  is  finite,  limited  ;  in  its  possibility 
{i.e.  its  idea)  it  is  infinite,  but  only  privatively  infinite 
— ^that  is,  God  could  still  call  a  more  perfect  universe 
into  existence  than  it  has  actually  pleased  Him  to  do. 
Only  He,  as  the  Absolute  Greatest,  is  infinite  in  the 
full  negative  sense,  i.e.  that  which  can  neither  be  nor  be 
thought  greater  than  it  is.     Here  Bruno's  theory  is  in 
cojnpkte  contrast  with  that  of  the  Cusan.     There  are, 
however,   many   consequences    that    both    alike   have 
drawn,  as  that  no  two  things  in  the  universe  are  wholly 
and  in  all  respects  alike  (the  identity  of  indiscernible s)  ; 
each  thing  expresses  the  nature  of  the  whole  in  a  special 
way,  but   all   things   may   be   arranged   in   graduated 
scales  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  or  from  any  one 
to  any  other,  i.e.  there  are  no  absolute  diflferences,  only 
diflPerences  of  degree.    Nor  are  there  absolute  centres  in 
the  universe,  or  in  any  of  the  worlds,  nor  perfect  figures 
— ^thus  there  are  no  perfect  circles  described,  e.g.  by  the 


J 


? 


II 


j)tiXtwJ!i^ ^^    Op 

CUSANUS  AND  BRUNO 


147 

planets,  in  nature.     A  further  corollary  was  that  the 
whole  is  mirrored  in  each  of  the  parts,  as  each  parti- 
cular thing  partakes  of  the  soul  or  creative  force  of  all ; 
each  does  not,  however,  mirror  or  reflect  the  Divine 
nature  with  the  same  adequacy  as  every  other  ;  some 
do  so  more  perfectly  than  others,  man  most  perfectly  of 
all.^     Cusanus  did  not  definitely  accept  the  suggestion 
i  of  a  soul  of  the  universe,  analogous  in  its  relation  to 
j  the  world  to  the  soul  of  man  in  the  body  ;  still. less  did 
he  identify  it  with  God,  as  Bruno  tended  more  and 
\  more  to  do.     Hence  he  escaped  the  fantastical  conse- 
quences  of  the    belief  in  Universal  Animism,  which 
were  drawn  without  reserve  by  the  Renaissance  writers 
—the  consequence,  e.g.  that  if  one  soul,  one  nature, 
pervades  all  things,  and  is  the  life  of  all  things,  then^ 
out  of  each  may  be  produced  any  other— out  of  lead, 
gold,  etc.     On  the  other  hand,  the .  fpjir  elements  at 
least  were  different   forms   of  the   same  fundamental 
being,  and  might  be  produced  each  out  of  the  other ; 
and,  in   common  with  Bruno,  Cusanus  held  the  pre- 
Aristotelian  belief  in  Atomism :— there  cannot  be  division 
of  anything,  cube  or  surface,  or  line — ad  infinitum ;  ulti- 
mately there  must  in  each  kind  be  a  minimum,^  an 
atom,  beyond  which  we  cannot  in  fact  go,  although  to 
thought  it  may  be  still  further  divisible  ;  so  there  is  in 
every  figure,  in  every  kind  of  thing,  a  definite  number 
of  atoms.     It  was  partly  this  thought,  pardy  also  the 
mystical,  value  from    time    immemorial    given  to  the 
different  numbers  and  geometrical  figures,  that  led  both 
Cusanus  and  Bruno  to  look  to  mathematics  and  geo- 
metry  for   the    true    method    or    organon  of  natural 
science.     "  Number  is  the  natural  and  fruitful  principle 

'  Cusanus,  De  Ludo  globi,  bk.  i. 
*  Cusanus,  De  Idiota,  iii.  {De  Mente,  9). 


X 


V  , 


Ml 


Agrippa  of 

Nettes- 

Jieim. 


\ 


I 

I 


148 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


•  /»Xv  JL 


of  the  understanding's   activity ;  irrational   beings  do 
not  number.     But  number  is  nothing  but  the  unfolding 
of  the  understanding.     Without  it  the  understanding 
would  have  none  of  the  results  to  which  it  attains.  .  .  . 
Nothing  can  exist  before   number,   for  all  that  goes 
beyond  the  simplest  unity  is  in  its  fashion  a  composite, 
and,  therefore,  without  number  is  unthinkable,  for  mul- 
titude, difference,  and    relation    of   parts    arise   from 
number."  ^     In  both  again  human  knowledge  proceeds 
inversely  as  creation  (or  emanation)  from  number,  the 
many,  back  through  successive  grades  of  simplicity  to 
the  one  highest,  most  simple,  God,  in  whom  are  all 
things  complicitly  (without  number).     "  What  appears 
to  us  as  after  another,  successive,  is  by  no  means  after 
in  Thy  Thought,  which  is  eternity  itself.     The  single 
thought,  which  is  Thy  word,  embraces  {complicat)  all 
and  each  in  itself,  Thy  single  word  cannot  be  manifold, 
opposite,  changeable.  ...  In    the    eternity  in  which 
Thou  thinkest,  coincides  all  the  after  another  of  time, 
with  the  now  of  eternity.     There  is,  therefore,  no  past 
nor  future  where  future  and  past  coincide  with  the 
present."  2      The   merely   logical   understanding,   that 
which  is  based   upon  sense  and  requires  sense-images 
for  its  material,  is  inadequate  to  this  highest  knowledge, 
gives   approximation  merely,  and  we  are  thrown  back 
upon  mystical  intuition  on  the  one  hand,  reasoned  faith 
on  the  other,  for  our  insight  into  the  true  nature  of  the 
One  and  the  All' 

Other  influences  which  gave  direction  to  Bruno's 
genius  belong  rather  to  physical  science  and  pseudo- 
science  than  to  philosophical  theory.  Cornelius  Agrippa 
of  Nettesheim  (1487-1535)*  the  scholarly  adventurer, 

^  Cu»anu3,  De  Omjecturii,  i.  4. 
«  Id.  Di  Visione  Dei,  lo.  »  U.  De  Venamne  Sapientiae, 


I 


II 


PARACELSUS 


149 


the  Faust  who  acquired  all  the  knowledge  and  most 
of  the  arts  of  his  time,  wrote  a  compendium  and 
justification  (from  Neoplatonist  philosophy)  of  magical 
practices,^  and  at  the  close  of  his  life  the  great  declama- 
tion "on  the  uncertainty  and  vanity  of  all  sciences  and 
arts,"  2_a  pka  for  the  simple  life  and  the  simple  gospel. 
The  De  occulta  philosophia  is  the  chief  source  from 
which  Bruno  drew  the  fantastical  lore  of  the  De 
^  Monade?  The  satires  upon  Asinity,  as  the  chief 
human  virtue,  in  the  Spaccio  and  the  Cabala,  directed 
as  they  are  against  blind  faith  without  works  or  wisdom, 
found  their  occasion  at  least  in_Agrigpa's  praise  of  the 
Ass  (in  the  De  Vanitate)  as  the  mouthpiece  of  God  in 
the  story  of  Balaam,  and  the  bearer  of  Christ  in  the 
New  Testament  history. 

P^r«C(?/j« J  *  proposed  a  reform  x)f  medicine  on  Neo-  Paracelsus 
platonist  principles,  attacking  the  Galenian  doctrine  of 
the   Four    Humours,    which   was   based   on    the  four 
elements  of  the  Aristotelians  (the  warm  and  the  cold, 
the  moist  and  the  dry).     His  own  more  '«najural" 
theory  made  salt,  sulphur,  and  mercury  the  (chemical) 
elements  of  all  things— those  which  in  Jiving  organisms 
were  vivified    and    directed    by  an    inner   spirit   {e,g. 
the  Archaeus   in  man),  a  direct  emanation  from  the 
soul  of  the   universe.     Through  their   common  con- 
stitution, and   the  spirit  that  infused   all  things  alike, 
there  was  a  subtle,  mysterious  sympathy  between  the 
microcosm   and   the   macrocosm,  the  individual  body 
and    the    universe,    and    it  was  by  the  study  of  the 
relations  (magical,  astrological,  and  the  rest)  between 
the    stars    and    the    things    of   earth,    between    the 

1  De  occulta  philosophia,  «  De  Vanitate  Scientiarum. 

*  Tocco.     Fonti  piu  recenti,  etc.  p.  534. 
*  Theophrastus  Bombastes  von  Hohenheim,  1493-1541. 


150 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


<      I 


Cardanus. 


i5« 


.i) 


different  metals  and  the  body  of  man,  that 
Paracelsus  proposed  to  reform  the  art  of  medicine. 
Bruno,  in  the  Causa^  praises  Paracelsus  for  his  "  philo- 
sophical" treatment  of  medicine,  that  he  did  not 
rest  content  with  the  three  chemical  principles  alone  for 
explanation  of  the  different  vital  phenomena,  but 
sought  the  true  principle  of  life  everywhere  in  a  spirit 
or  soul.  He  is  one  of  the  builders  of  the  temple 
of  wisdom, — ad  miraculum  medicus?  In  his  magical 
writings  and  in  the  De  Monadey  Bruno  is  largely 
indebted  for  materials  to  Paracelsus.  The  same 
general  tendency,  the  desire  for  a  return  to  nature  and 
to  sense-observation  as  opposed  to  the  authority  of 
Aristotle,  and  to  the  cult  of  logical  or  grammatical 
subtleties,  is  found  also  in  Cardan.'  In  his  work 
there  is  the  same  mixture  of  mathematics  and  physical 
science  with  theology,  magic,  and  Neoplatonism,  and 
to  him  Bruno  owes  many  of  his  superstitions.  The 
more  profound  Telesio  also  (who  before  Bruno  "  made 
honourable  war  upon  Aristotle")*  attempted,  in- 
dependently of  all  authority,  from  sense  -  knowledge 
and  induction  alone,  to  penetrate  the  mysteries  of 
nature. 
Copcraicus.  Only  one  name  remains  with  which  that  of  Bruno 
is  indelibly  associated — that  of  Copernicus,  whose  De 
orbium  coelestium  Revolutionibus  was  published  in 
J„543-  It  was  his  theory  of  the  solar  system,  coinciding 
as  It  seemed  with  that  of  the  most  ancient  philosophers, 

^  Lag.  247. 

*  i.  I.  17.  In  the  Sig.  Sig.  ii.  2.  181,  he  is  put  forward  as  an  example  of  the 
value  of  the  life  of  solitude  :— »*  Paracelsus,  who  glories  more  in  the  title  of  hermit 
than  m  that  of  doctor  or  master,  became  a  leader  and  author  among  physicians, 
second  to  none  "  j — a  reference  to  the  title  of  Eremitay  which  Paracelsus  took,  how- 
ever, from  his  birthplace  Einsiedeln,  and  to  his  well  known  and  strongly  expressed 
contempt  for  the  learning  of  books.  •  1501-1576  a.d. 

*  The  first  two  books  of  the  Denatura  rerum  were  published  in  1565. 


Telesio. 


II 


COPERNICUS 


151 


I     f 


that   gave    the    decisive    trend    to    Bruno's    thought, 
holding  him  fast  to  the  one  all-important  fact  that  the 
earth  is  not  the  centre  of  the  universe  but  one  of  its 
humblest  members.     Without  the  solid  arguments  of 
jl^opermcus,  Bruno's  superb  conception  of  the  cosmic 
system  would   have   remained   a   dream,    an  intuition 
of  genius,    rather   than  a   well-grounded   forecast   of 
modern  scientific  discovery.     "There  is  more  under- 
standing," said  Bruno,  "  in  two  of  his  chapters  than  in 
the  whole  philosophy  of  nature  of  Aristotle  and  all  the 
Peripatetics.^      Graj^e^thoughtful,  careful,^nd  mature 
\l    in  mind,  not  inferior  Jp  any  of  the  astronomers  that 
went  before  him — in  natural  judgment  far  superior  to 
Ptolemy,  Hipparch,  Eudoxus,  and  all  the  others  that 
have  walked  in  their  footsteps — a  height  he  attained  by 
freeing  himself  from  the  prejudices,  not  to  say  blindness, 
•  of  the  vulgar  philosophy.     Yet  he  did  not  get  beyond 
it ;    being   more   a    student   of  mathematics    than   of 
nature,  he  was  unable  wholly  to  uproot  all  unfitting, 
vain  principles,  to  solve  all  contrary  difficulties,  liberate 
both  himself  and  others  from  so  many  vain  inquiries, 
and  fix  their  contemplation  on  things  abiding  and  sure. 
With  all  that,  who  can_sufficiently^appraise  the^jeatness^, 
,of  this  German,  who  paid  little  Jieed  tojLhe  fon)kh  v 
'multitude,   and   stood    solid    against   the    torrent    of,^ 
opposing  belief     Although  almost  destitute  of  living  ' 
reasons  for  weapons,   he  took  up  those  cast-ofF  and 
rusty  fragments  that  he  could  get  to  his  hand  from 
antiquity  ;  repolished  them,  brought  the  pieces  together, 
mended  them,  so  that  through  his  arguments — mathe- 
matical rather  than   physical   though  they  were — he 
made    a    cause    that    had    been    ridiculed,    despised^ 
neglected,  to  be  Honoured   and  prized,  to  seem  more 

*  op.  Lot.  i.  I.  17. 


i 


■g 


1 


M 


152 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART  II 


probable  than  its  contrary,  and  certainly  more  suitable 
and  expeditious  for  calculation."  ^  Copernicus  had  put 
forward  the  theory  as  a  hypothesis  merely,  and  had 
shown  how  much  more  simply  the  different  positions  of 
the  sun  and  planets  as  seen  from  the  earth  could  be 
explained  by  it,  and  how  much  more  accurately  they 
could  be  calculated.  In  the  Epistle  prefixed  to  his 
work  (said  by  Bruno  not  to  be  by  Copernicus  himself), 
the  reader  was  warned  of  the  folly  of  taking  this 
hypothesis  as  true.  To  Bruno  the  contrary  of  the 
hypothesis  was  absurd.  Bruno  did  not  appreciate  the 
mathematical  proofs  of  Copernicus,  and  constantly 
spoke  of  him  as  too  much  of  a  mathematician,  too 
little  of  a  physicist :  his  own  mathematical  demonstra- 
tions were,  however,  much  less  successful  than  those  of 
his  predecessor.* 

^  Cenoy  Lag.  124. 

2  Bruno  praise*  and  giv^Jqng  extracts  from  CopemicM  in  the  De  hamnto^ 
bk.  iii.  di.  9. 


. 


CHAPTER    II 


THE    FOUNDATIONS    OF    KNOWLEDGE^ 

It  is  the  object  of  this  chapter  to  give  some  account  of 
the  speculations  on  nature  and  spirit  which  occupied 
Bruno  during  his  first  year  in  England,  and  which 
show  how  hard  he  was  striving  to  pierce  through  the 
shell  of  mediaeval  thought  in  which  his  mind  was 
encased.  However  fiercely  he  struggled  to  gain  his 
freedom,  it  was  impossible  that  he  should  do  so  quite  at 
once.  With  all  his  contemporaries,  he  was  imbued  in 
Aristotle's  ways  of  thought,  and  the  problems  he  set 
himself  to  answer  were  largely  determined  for  him  by 
Aristotle.  The  categories  with  which  he  wrought, — 
"principle,"  "cause,"  "form,"  "matter,"  "potency," 
"act,"  "subject,"  were  those  of  the  Stagirite,  and 
were  open,  therefore,  to  the  same  charge  of  unfruitful- 
ness.  On  the  other  hand,  while  the  outward  form  of 
Bruno's  philosophy,  and  to  a  certain  extent  its  matter 

,  also,  were  essentially  Aristotelian,  the  spirit  which 
infused  it  all  was  not  so ;  the  emotion  and  enthusiasm 
with  which  he  wrote  savoured  rather  of  the  fire  of 
Plato  than  of  the  logical  mind  of  his  successor ;  and 
^^^^^^fi^'i^^^^j  ^^^  ^^^  conception  of  nature  and  of  mind 

\  which  belongs  to  modern  philosophy  was  struggling  to 
the  light. 

^  De  la  Causaj  etc. 
>S3 


/' 


(1 


I 


i  I 


i 


i 


'    *    I 


/<' 


154 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


From  his  Platonist  masters  Bruno  had  learned  that 
the  Highest  or  First  Principle  was  unknowable  to  man, 
being  beyond  the  reach  of  his  senses  and  of  his  under- 
standing alike  :  a  complete  systematisation  of  knowledge 
was  therefore  impossible.  A  philosophy  of  nature  had 
to  seek  only  for  physical  (i.e.  real  or  "immanent") 
causes  or  principles  ;  these  might  depend,  indeed,  upon 
the  highest  and  first  principle  or  cause,  but  the  depend- 
ence was  not  so  close  that  the  knowledge  of  the  former 
gave  us  knowledge  of  the  latter  :  no  single  system  of 
knowledge  could  embrace  both.  Knowing  the  universe, 
we  yet  knew  nothing  of  the  essence  or  substance  of  its 
first  cause,  any  more  than  that  of  the  sculptor  Apelles 
could  be  inferred  from  the  statue  he  had  made.  The 
things  of  nature,  although  effects  of  the  divine  opera- 
tion, became  the  remotest  accidents,  when  regarded  as 
means  to  the  knowledge  of  the  divine  supernatural 
Essence.  "  We  have  still  less  ground  for  knowing  it 
than  for  knowing  Apelles  from  his  finished  statues, 
for  all  of  these  we  may  see,  and  examine,  part  by  part, 
but  not  the  great  and  infinite  effect  of  the  divine 
potency."^  The  First  Principle  is,  therefore,  the 
concern  of  the  moralist  and  of  the  theologian,  as 
revealed  to  them  by  the  gods,  or  declared  to  them 
through  the  inspired  knowledge  of  diviner  men  and  of 
the  prophets.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  universe  we 
have  the  infinite  image  of  God,  and  it  is,  therefore, 
possible  through  it  to  obtain  an  approximate  knowledge 
of  Him :  "  the  magnificent  stars  and  shining  bodies, 
^P^gLH^  so  many  inhabited  worlds,  and  animate  Eeihgs 
cm:  deities,  worlds  similar ^To'^Chat"' wKicir~contains 
<%gelves^jmu^  smce  they  are  composite  and 

capable  of  dissolution,  UBogXpnnciple  and  causeTand 

^  Lag.  229. 


II 


THE  CAUSA 


IS5 


consequently,  by  their  greatness,  their  life  and  work, 
they  show  forth  and  preach  the  majesty  of  this  first 
principle  and  cause."*  Thus  the  starting-point  of 
Bruno's  mature  philosophy  is  nature  as  the  vestige  or 
imprint  of  divinity,  and  divinity  is  considered  only  "  as  ^ 
nature  itself  or  as  reflected  in  nature  "  :  the  presence  of 
a  transcendent  principle  above  and  beyond  nature  is, 
indeed,  premised  to  the  discussion  of  the  Causa^  but  it 
is  no  longer  admitted  that  its  study  falls  within  the 
philosopher's  scope,  nor  does  it  ever  hamper  or  in  any 
way  influence  the  course  of  the  argument.  So  far  from*^ 
that,  we  find,  at  the  completion  of  the  dialogue,  that 
we  have  arrived  at  an  immanent  principle  or  divinity, 
which  renders  the  transcendent  superfluous. 

The  purpose  of  the  Causa^  Bruno's  first  purely 
philosophical  work,  was  to  determine  what  are  the 
creative  and  constitutive  principles  of  the  natural 
world, — its  efficient  cause,  its  end,  its  form,  its  matter, 
and  its  unity ;  or,  in  other  words,  to  lay  down  the 
"foundations  of  knowledge,"  to  give  an  outline- 
picture  of  reality  the  details  of  which  it  was  left  to 
experience  and  observation  to  fill  in.  Bruno  begins 
by  laying  down  certain  distinctions,  which,  however, 
do  not,  in  the  end,  prove  very  binding.  First,  a 
principle  {principio)  is  that  which  enters,  intrin-  Principle 
sically,  into  the  constitution  of  a  thing,  while  a  .  ^"*** 
cause  concurs  from  without  in  its  production  ;  thus, 
matter  and  form,  which  are  principles  rather  than 
causes,  are  the  elements  of  which  a  thing  is  composed 
and  into  which  it  is  resolved.  A  cause,  on  the  other 
hand,  remains  outside  of  the  resultant  object — for  ex- 
ample, the  efficient,  creating  cause,  and  the  end  or  final 
cause  for  which  the  thing  is  ordained.     Principle  is  the 


^  Lag.  229. 


'  De  la  Causa,  princifio  et  una,  1 584. 


156 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


II 


THE  EFFICIENT  CAUSE 


157 


♦ 


I 


more  general  term,  for  "  in  Nature,  not  everything  that 
is  principle,  is  also  cause  :    the  point  is  principle  of 
the   line,  not  cause;    the  instant,  of  the  event;    the 
starting-point,  of  the   movement;   the   premisses,   of 
the   argument."'     God   is  both  principle   and   cause, 
but   from    different    points   of  view :    "  He    is   first 
principle  in  so  far  as  all  things  are  posterior  to  him  in 
nature,  duration,  or  dignity  ;  he  is  first  cause  in  so  far 
as  all  things  are  distinguished  from  him  as  effect  from 
efficient,  thing  produced  from   producer.     The  points 
of  view  are  different,  for  not  always  is  the  prior  and 
more  worthy  a  cause  of  that  which  is  posterior  and  less 
worthy ;  and  not  always  is  the  cause  prior  and  more 
worthy  than  that  which  is  caused."  ^     There  are  really 
P^^  marks  of  a  principle  given  by  Bruno,  priority  in 
F^^^y  and  internality  ;   but,  generally,  a  principle  is 
that  without  which  a  thing  could  not  come  into  being, 
and  which  if  taken  away  would  take  away  also  the 
bemg  of  the  thing.     To  a  cause  the  latter  half  of  this 
description  would  not  apply,  as  it  remains  outside  of 
the  effect.     Thus  God  as  principle  is  immanent  in  all 
things,  and  is  the  higher  source  from  which  they  proceed. 
This  twofold  interpretation  of  the  relation  of  God  to 
nature  and  to  natural  things  was  ah-eady  inherent  in 
the  Neoplatonic  doctrine  which  formed  Bruno's  starting- 
point,  since  God  as  the  source  of  emanation  was  outside 
of  the  emanations  themselves,  and  was  unaffected  by 
them;    on    the    other   hand,   the   gradations   in    the 
different   stages   of  emanation,  and  the  possibility  of 

*  Lag.  230. 

2  lb.  The  terms  correspond  to  Aristotle's  dpxij  and  aXriovy  respectively  j  no  clear 
distinction  was  drawn  between  their  meanings  by  Aristotle,  however.  Bruno's  aim 
is  to  contrast  the  inwardly  active,  inmanent  principle  of  life  and  of  movement  with  the 
trmmnt,  outwardly  active  cause,  and  to  interpret  nature,  as  a  whole,  as  the  mani- 
festation of  some  such  inward  principle,  rather  than  as  a  mechanical  system  to  which 
the  impulse  was  given  from  without. 


rising  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  to  the  One  above 
all,  implied  the  existence  of  somewhat  of  the  One  as  a 
common  nature  in  all.  The  two  points  of  view  were, 
however,  held  apart,  and  the  contradiction  between 
them  was  not  consciously  perceived,  so  that  the  coinci- 
dence of  nature  between  God  as  the  source,  and  matter 
as  the  lowest  emanation,  never  suggested  itself ;  on  the 
contrary,  their  complete  opposition  was  maintained 
until  Bruno  put  forward  his  theory  of  the  "divinity 
of  matter,"  which  forms  the  real  theme  of  the  Causa, 

The  efficient  cause  of  the  natural  world  is  the  Efficient 
universal  intelligence,  "  the  first  and  principal  faculty  ""^^^^f 
of  the  soul  of  the  world."  This  intellectus  universalis 
is  to  natural  things  as  our  intellect  to  the  thoughts 
of  our  mind,  and  Bruno  identifies  it  with  the  Demiurge 
of  the  Platonists,  and  the  "  seed-sower  "  of  the  Magi, 
for  it  impregnates  matter  with  all  "  forms  "  :  it  is  an 
qrtefice  internoy  for  it  works  from  within  in  giving  form 
and  figure  to  matter,  as  the  seed  or  root  from  within 
sends  forth  the  stem,  the  stem  the  branches,  the 
branches  the  formed  twigs,  and  these  the  buds  ;  "  from 
within  leaves,  flowers,  fruit  are  formed,  figured, 
patterned  ;  from  within  again  in  due  time  the  sap  is 
recalled  from  leaves  and  fiiiit  to  twigs,  from  twigs  to 
branches,  from  these  to  stem,  from  stem  to  root.  .  .  . 
But  how  much  greater  an  artificer  is  he  that  works 
not  in  any  single  part  of  matter  alone,  but  continually 
and  in  all."^  The  intellectus  is  both  external  and 
internal  to  any  particular  being ;  i,e.  it  is  not  a  part 
of  any  particular  existence,  is  not  exhausted  by  it, 
therefore  is  so  far  external  to  it ;  on  the  other  hand, 

*  Lag.  231.  38.  The  Ltteliectus  is  identified  also  with  the  Pythagorean  world- 
mover  (Verg.  ^eneU,  vi.  726)  j  the  "  World's  Eye "  of  the  OrphFc  Poems  j  the 
"  distinguisher"  of  Empedocles  j  the  "Father  and  Progenitor  of  all  things"  of  Plotinus. 


<  J 


t 


158 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Formal 
cause  of 
nature. 


it  does  not  act  upon  matter  from  without,  but  from 
within/  the  efficient  cause  is  at  the  same  time  an 
inward  principle. 

1"^c  fo^^^i  cause  of  nature  is  the  ideal  reason; 
before  the  intelligence  can  produce  species  or  particular 
things,  can  bring  them  forth  from  the  potentiality  of 
matter  into  reality,  it  must  contain  them  "formally,"  i.e. 
ideally,  in  itself,  as  the  sculptor  cannot  mould  different 
statues  without  having  first  thought  out  their  different 
forms.*  This  ideal  reason  is  the  Idea  ante  rem  of  the 
Scholastics.  The  ideas  of  the  intelligence  are  not, 
as  such,  the  things  of  nature,  they  are  the  models  by 
which  the  intellect  guides  nature  in  its  production  of 
individual  things.  The  Jinalsmst  which  the  intellect 
Final  cause,  sets  before  itself  is  the  perfection  of  the  universe,  i.e. 
that  all  possible  forms  may  have  actual  existence 
in  the  different  portions  of  matter  ;  from  its  joy  in 
this  end  proceeds  its  ceaseless  activity  in  the  production 
of  forms  out  of  matter." 

Among  constitutive  principles  or  elements  of  things, 
the  intellectus  again  takes  the  foremost  place  as  the 
form ;  for,  as  we  have  seen,  it  is  both  extrinsic  and 
intrinsic  to  the  nature  of  things,  .  .  ."  the  soul  is 
in  the  body  as  the  pilot  in  the  ship  ;  in  so  far  as  he  is 
moved  along  with  it,  he  is  part  of  the  ship,  but  in  so 
far  as  he  governs  and  guides  it,  he  is  not  a  part  but  a 
separate  agent ;  so  the  soul  of  the  universe,  in  so  far 
as  it  animates  and  gives  form  to  things,  is  intrinsic 
formal  principle ;  in  so  far  as  it  directs  and  governs, 
it  is  not  part,  nor  principle,  but  cause."  *  As  external, 
the  soul  of  the  world  is  independent  of  matter,  and 
untouched  by  its  defects  :    it  is  on|y  the  perfections 

*  Lag.  232.  24.  2  Lag.  232.  33  ff. 

»  On  Perfection,  vide  infra,  p.  199.         *  Lag.  233. 27.     Of.  Arist.  De  jinima,  ii.  i. 


Form 


II 


SUBSTANCE:  IMMORTALITY         159 


•4| 

f ; 


of  the  lower  that  are  present  in  the  higher  being,  and 
that  to  a  higher  degree.  As  internal  it  constitutes  the 
soul  in  all  things — down  to  the  very  lowest,  although 
in  these  it  is  repressed  or  latent.  This  all-presence 
of  soul  does  not  mean,  however,  that  each  particular 
thing,  e.g.  a  table  or  garment,  is,  as  such,  a  living  and 
sensible  beingp  but  only  that  in  everything,  however 
small  or  insignificant,  there  is  a  portion  or  share  of 
spirit,  animating  it,  and  this,  *«  if  it  find  a  pro- 
perly disposed  subject,  may  extend  itself  so  as  to 
become  plant  or  animal,  and  may  receive  the  limbs 
of  any  body  whatsoever,  such  as  is  commonly 
said  to  be  animate."  Even  the  smallest  material 
body,  therefore,  has  in  it  the  potentiality  of  life  and 
mind. 

It   follows   that  there   are,  strictly   speaking,    only  Substance. 
two  substances,  matter  and  spirit :  all_particular  things 
result   from   the    composition   in   varying   degrees   of 
these  two— are  therefore  mere  *' accidents,"  and  have 
no  abiding  reality.     Bruno  joins  issue  in  this  with  the 
Peripatetics,  to  whom  the  "real  man,"  for  example, 
is  a  composite  of  body  and  soul,  or  the  true  soul  is 
the  perfection  or  actualisation  of  the  living  body,  or 
is  a  resultant    from  a  certain   harmony  of  form  and 
of  limbs.^     Death  or  dissolution  would  mean  to  them 
the  loss  of  their  being  ;  whereas  neither  "  body  nor 
soul  need  fear  death,  for  both  Inatter   and  form  are 
constant   abiding  principles."  ^      This  theory  of  sub- 
stance  and    of  immortality   was   regarded    by   Bruno 
as  one  of  the  cardinal  points  of  his  philosophy,'  and 
one  in  which  he  differed  most  widely  from  Aristotle, 
as  interpreted  by  him,  and  from  the  Aristotelians.     Its    ^ 
statement,  and  the  criticism  of  the  Peripatetics,  occur 

»  Cf.  Arist.  De  Anima,  ii.  ch.  i  and  2.         2  Lag,  j^g   ^^  %  ^^  Lucretius. 


<  ,1 


i\ 


i6o 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


II 


SPIRIT  AND  MATTER 


i6i 


If' 


ill 


ii 


|ri 


again  and  again  throughout  the  works,  and  he  believed 
the  removal  from  man  of  the  fear  of  death  to  be  one 
of  the  greatest  results  of  his  teaching. — "This  spirit, 
being  persistent  along  with  matter — and  these  being 
the  one  and  the  other  indissoluble,  it  is  impossible 
that  anything  should  in  any  respect  see  corruption  or 
come  to  death,  in  its  substance,  although  in  certain 
accidents  everything  changes  face,  and  passes  now  into 
one  composition,  now  into  another,  through  now  one 
disposition,  now  another,  leaving  off  or  taking  up 
now  this  now  that  existence.  Aristotelians,  Platonists, 
and  other  sophists  have  not  understood  what  the  sub- 
stance of  things  is.  In  natural  things  that  which  they 
call  substance,  apart  from  matter,  is  pure  accident. 
When  we  know  what/orw  really  is,  we  know  what  is 
life  and  what  is  death  ;  and,  the  vain  and  puerile  fear 
of  the  latter  passing  from  us,  we  experience  some  of 
that  blessedness  which  our  philosophy  brings  with  it, 
inasmuch  as  it  lifts  the  dark  veil  of  foolish  sentiment 
concerning  Orcus  and  the  insatiable  Charon,  that  wrests 
from  us  or  empoisons  all  that  is  sweetest  in  our  lives."  ^ 
There  is  a  certain  ambiguity  in  the  description  of 
substance.  Whether  is  the  spiritual  unity  which  is 
placed  over  against  matter  itself  substance,  or  is  it 
rather  the  particular  souls  which  are  part  of  it,  and 
which  are  thus  immortal,  changing  only  the  form  of 
composition  into  which  they  enter  ?  In  this  dialogue 
it  seems  Bruno  is  speaking  only  of  the  world-soul,* 
but  in  later  works,  especially  in  the  Spaccio  and  De 
MinimOy  the  substantiality  and  immortality  of  the 
individual    soul    are    categorically    asserted.     In    the 

^  Lag.  202.  40. 

■  Cf.  e.g,  238. 12,  when  the  form  or  soul  is  said  to  be  one  in  all  things,  and  differ- 
ences are  said  to  arise  from  the  dispositions  of  matter. 


I 


Causa  however,  Bruno  maintains  quite  clearly  the 
substantiality  of  the  universal  soul  alone,  the  finite 
individual  being  merely  one  of  the  modes  of  its  de- 
termination in  matter.i 

Having  shown  that  no  part  of  matter  is  ever  entirely 
without  "  form,"  Bruno  leaves  aside  for  the  present  the 
question  whether  all  form  (Spirit)  is  equally  accompanied 
by  matter.     The  form  or  world-soul  is  not  more  than 
one,  for  all  numerical  multiplication  depends  on  matter. 
It  is  in  itself  unchanging  ;  only  the  objects  vary,  the 
different  portions  of  matter  into  which  it  enters  :  and 
although  in  the  object  it  is  the  spirit  or  form  which 
causes  the  part  to  differ  from  the  whole,  yet  //  does 
not  differ  in  the  part  or  in  the  whole.      There  are 
differences  of  aspect  only,  according  as  it  is  regarded  as 
(a)  subsisting  in  itself,  or  as  (b)  the  actuality  and  per- 
fection of  some  object,  or  as  (r)  referred  to  different 
objects  with  different  dispositions.^     That  is.  Spirit  in 
itself, — the  universal  Spirit, — the  Spirit  or  Soul  of  a 
particular  animate  being,  the  Spirits  or  Souls  of  a  number 
of  different  beings  (a  system  of  beings), — these  are  all  the 
same  thing  looked  at  from  different  points  of  view.     It 
is  the  same  unique  Spirit  which  determines  the  life  of  the 
human  individual,  the  development  of  the  human  race 
as  a  whole,  and  the  persistence  of  the  world ;  the  soul  of 
Caesar  and  the  spirit  of  humanity  are  one  with  the  soul 
of  the  universe.     The  relation  of  spirit  to  matter  in 
Bruno's   philosophy   is  more   difficult   to   understand. 
Spirit   is   said   to   be  neither   external   to  nor   mixed 
with  matter,   nor  inherent  in  it,  but  **  inexistent,"  i.e. 
associated  with  or  present  to  it.     Moreover  it  is  defined 
and   determined   by  matter,  because   having   in   itself 
power  to  realise  particular  things  of  innumerable  kinds, 


*  yUe  ifi/roj  ch.  5. 


^  Lag.  240.  28. 


M 


/:• 


'1; 


1 62 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


it  "  contracts "  or  limits  itself  to  realise  a  given  indi- 
vidual ;  and  on  the  other  side  the  potency  of  matter, 
which  is  indeterminate,  and  capable  of  any  form  whatso- 
ever, is  '*  determined  "  to  one  particular  kind ;  so  that 
the  one  is  cause  of  the  definition  and  determination  of 
the  other.  Thus  particular  bodies  are  modes  (de- 
terminations) of  spirit  and  also  of  matter.  As  the 
universal  form,  spirit  is  all-present  throughout  the 
universe,  not  however  materially  or  in  extension, 
but  spiritually,  i.e.  intensively.  Bruno's  favourite 
illustration  is  that  of  a  voice  or  utterance — "  imagine  a 
voice  which  is  wholly  in  the  whole  of  a  room,  and  in 
every  part  of  it ;  everywhere  it  is  heard  wholly,  as  these 
words  which  I  speak  are  understood  wholly  by  all,  and 
would  be  even  if  there  were  a  thousand  present ;  and  if 
my  voice  could  reach  to  all  the  world,  it  would  be  all 
in  all."  ^  So  the  soul  is  individual,  not  as  a  point  is,  but, 
^^  _  analogously  to  a  voice,  or  utterance,  filling  the  universe. 
It  is  clear  from  these  passages  that  the  finite  soul  has  no 
more  reality  in  this  phase  of  Bruno's  pantheism  than  in 
Spinoza's  ;  not  only  is  the  world-soul  one  as  unique,  but 
it  is  also  one  as  indivisible — there  are  no  parts  of  it : 
it  is  wholly  in  each  of  the  parts  of  the  universe — in  each 
of  its  realisations.  The  finite  individual,  as  this  par- 
ticular soul  in  this  particular  body,  is  accordingly  a  mere 
accident,  and  passes  away  as  all  accidents  do ;  its 
existence  is  due  chiefly  to  matter,  by  the  varying  *'  dis- 
positions "  of  which  the  universal  form  is  "  determined  " 
to  this  or  that  particular  form  ;  matter  is  in  general  the 
source  of  all  particularity,  all  number  and  measure. 
The  difficulty  underlying  this  attribution  of  diversity 
to  a  matter  which  is  supposed  to  be,  apart  from  the 
forniy  undetermined  and  undifl^erentiated,  has  been  re- 

^  Lag.  242.  7. 


^7     I 

I' 


> 


■">m ,»PM^"»*'^     *Hl 


II 


MATTER  AND  FORM 


163 


ferred  to  above.  It  is  emphasised  in  the  argument  to 
this  part  of  the  Causa  given  in  the  introductory 
epistle,^  where  matter,  although  formless  in  itself,  is 
spoken  of  as  "  consisting  in  diverse  grades  of  active 
and  passive  qualities  ?  "  Bruno  seems,  however,  at  this 
time  unconscious  of  the  difficulty.  Certainly  from  pure 
matter  and  pure  form,  body  and  spirit,  standing  over 
against  one  another,  no  start  could  be  made.  Diversity 
had  to  come  into  the  world  somehow. 

We  have  not  yet  solved  the  problem  as  to  the 
relation  between  these  two  principles  themselves — matter 
and  form.  Bruno  confesses  to  have  held  at  one  period 
the  "Epicureaajdew  that  matter  was  the  only  substance, 
the  forms  being  merely  accidental  dispositions  of  it ;  but  \ 
on  further  consideration  he  was  compelled  to  recognise 
a  formai,as  well  as  a  material  substance."  ^  In  fact, 
I  however,  both  form  and  matter  tend  as  the  philosophy 


matter. 


develops  to  coincide  in  a  higher  unity  which  is  at  last . 
.the  ultimate  reality.     The  "proof"  of  *^ Matter"  is  Thededuc 
from  the  analogy  between  Nature  and  Art.     All  who  ''°°  ""^ 
have  attempted,  said  Bruno,  to  distinguish  maUer  from 
form  have  made  use  of  the  analogy  of  the  arts  (e,g.  the 
Pythagoreans,  Platonists,  Peripatetics).     Take  some  art 
such  as  that  of  the  wood-worker ;  in  all  its  forms  and 
all  its  operations  it  has  as  subject  (or  material)  wood- 
as  the  iron-worker  has  iron ;  the  tailor,  cloth.     All  these 
arts  produce  each  in  its  own  material  various  pictures, 
arrangements,  figures,  none  of  which  is  proper  or  natural 
to  that  material.    So  Nature,  which  art  resembles,  must 

1  Epist.  Proem^  Lag.  203.  19.  When  he  wrote  the  De  Minimo  the  question  had 
at  least  presented  itself  to  Bruno  as  requiring  solution  :  -vide  bk.  iv.  {Op.  Lat.  i.  3. 
274).  Individual  differences  are  referred  to  two  possible  sources— the  different  com- 
positions of  the  forms  or  ideal  types,  and  the  varied  dispositions  of  matter ;  and  it  is 
•uggestcd  that  the  latter  of  these  may  derive  from  the  former. 

'  Lag.  246.  37. 


( 


^ 


II 


n 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


have  for  its  operations  a  certain  matter  (material)  ;  for 
no  agent  intending  to  make  something  can  work  without 
something  of  which  to  make  it,  or  wishing  to  act  can  do 
so  without  something  on  which  to  act ;  there  is  there- 
fore a  species  of  subject  or  material,  of  which  and  in 
which  nature  effectuates  its  operation,  its  work,  and 
which  is  by  it  formed  in  the  many  forms  presented  to 
the  eye  of  reflection.  And  as  wood  by  itself  has  not 
any  artificial  form,  but  may  have  any  or  all  through  the 
action  of  the  wood-worker,  so  the  matter  of  which  we 
speak,  of  itself  and  in  its  own  nature,  has  not  any  natural 
form,  but  may  have  any  or  all  through  the  agent,  the 
active  principle  of  nature.  This  natural  matter  or 
material  is  imperceptible,  differing  so  from  the  material 
of  art,  because  the  matter  of  nature  has  absolutely  no 
form,  whereas  the  matter  of  art  is  a  thing  already  formed 
by  nature.  Art  can  operate  only  upon  the  surface  of 
things  formed  by  nature,  as  wood,  iron,  stone,  wool, 
and  similar  things  ;  but  nature  operates  from  the  centre 
so  to  speak,  of  its  subject,  or  matter,  which  in  itself  is 
wholly  devoid  of  form.  The  subjects  of  the  arts  are 
many — of  natiire  one  ;  for  those  being  diversely  formed 
by  nature,  are  different  and  various,  while  the  latter, 
not  being  formed  at  all,  is  entirely  indifferent, — every 
difference  and  variety  being  due  to  the  form.^  As  it  is 
absolutely  formless,  this  matter  cannot  be  perceived  by 
the  senses,  which  are  the  media  of  natural  forms,  but 
only  by  the  eye  of  reason.  As  visible  matter,  that  of 
art,  remains  the  same  under  countless  variations  of  form, 
— the  form  of  a  tree  becoming  that  of  a  trunk,  of  a  beam, 
of  a  table,  a  chair,  a  stool,  a  comb,  its  nature  as  wood 
continuing  throughout ;  so  in  nature  that  which  was 

*  Lag.  248.  17.    The  apparent  conflict  between  this  and  the  preceding  pagpt  will 
resolve  itself  below. 


\ 


II        MATTER  THE  TRUE  SUBSTANCE     165 

seed  becomes  herb  ;  the  herb,  corn  in  the  ear  ;  the  corn, 
bread  ;  the  bread,  bile  ;  bile,  blood  ;  blood  again  seed,  an 
embryo,  a  man,  a  corpse,  earth,  stone,  or  other  things, 
and  so  through  all  natural  forms.  There  must  then  be_. 
one  and  the  same  thing  which  in  itself  is  not  stone  nor 
.  earth,  nor  corpse,  nor  man,  nor  embryo,  nor  blood,  nor 
anything  else.^  So  the  Pythagorean  Timaeus  ^  inferred, 
from  the  transmutations  of  the  elements  one  into 
another, — earth  into  water,  the  dry  into  the  moist, — a 
tertium  quidy  which  was  neither  moist  nor  dry,  but 
became  subject  now  of  the  one,  now  of  the  other  nature. 
Otherwise  the  earth  would  have  gone  to  nothing  and 
the  water  come  from  nothing,  which  is  impossible. 
Thus  nothing  is  ever  annihilated  but  the  accidental,  the 
exterior,  material  form,  both  matter  and  the  substantial 
form,  i.e,  spirit,  being  eternal. 

The  argument  has  proved  that  there  is  a  something.  Natural 
the  "I  know  not  what"  of  Locke,  which  is  the  sub-  ^°'°'"' 
stance  of  all  natural  things,  *'  natural  forms."  We  have 
now  to  see  in  what  relation  this  substance  stands  to  the 
forms,  the  differences,  which  are  on  its  surface.  All 
natural  forms  dissolve  in  matter,  and  come  again  in 
matter,  so  that  nothing  is  really  "  constant,  firm,  eternal, 
or  deserving  of  the  name  of  a  principle,  but  matter  : 
besides  that  the  forms  have  no  existence  without  matter, 
in  it  they  are  generated  and  decay,  from  it  they  issue, 
into  it  are  received  again  ;  therefore  matter,  which 
remains  always  the  same  and  always  fruitful,  must  be 
regarded  as  the  only  substantial  principle,  as  that  which 
always  is  and  always  abides;  and  the  forms  but  as 
varying  dispositions  of  matter,  which  come  and  go, 
cease  and  are  renewed  ;  therefore  they  have  no  claim  to 
be  principles."  ^ 

*  t*f*  *>9-  3*'  *  Pscudo-Timaeus,  94  A.  »  Lag.  253.  11. 


I 


'V 


■  ^*|(!iiiii|iiiiii|iifp'™i 


1 1 ! 


Matter  as 
poten- 
tiality. 


li 


Firit  prin- 
ciple or 
absolute. 


1 66 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


The  matter  or  material  of  which  Bruno  here  speaks 
is  what  afterwards  was  called  extensiotiy  or  the  extended 
substance,  and  the  natural  forms  are  the  various  indi- 
vidual shapes  or  bodies  of  nature  :  both  from  the 
transformations  of  one  into  the  other,  and  again  from 
the  fact  that  the  particular  forms  come  into  being  and 
cease  to  exist,  it  was  argued  that  there  must  be  an 
underlying  something,  material  indeed,  but  different 
from  all  the  things  we  know  or  see,  indifferently  capable 
of  becoming  any  one  of  them,  persisting  throughout 
their  becoming,  their  change,  and  their  ceasing  to  exist, 
— i.e.  a  permanent  reality. 

Matter,  however,  meant  not  only  "subject"  or 
substrate,  but  also  "  potentiality,"  or  possibility  :  and 
we  have  to  consider  it  in  this  light  also.  Everything 
that  exists  is  therefore  possible^  and  the  possibility  of 
coming  into  existence, — "passive  potency," — implies 
that  of  bringing  into  existence — "active  potentiality 
or  power " ;  the  one  is  never  without  the  other, 
not  even  in  the  first  principle.  Thus  the  first  prin- 
ciple is  all  that  which  it  has  the  possibility  of  being — 
in  it  reality  and  possibility  are  one ;  whereas  a  stone, 
e.g.  is  not  all  that  it  has  the  possibility  of  being,  for  it 
is  not  lime,  nor  vase,  nor  dust,  nor  grass.  That  which 
is  all  that  it  can  be,  the  Absolute,  is  also  all  that  any 
other  thing  is  or  can  be  :  it  embraces  all  being  within 
itself.  Other  things  are  not  thus  absolute,  but  limited 
to  one  reality  at  a  time,  i.e.  one  specific  and  particular 
existence.  They  can  be  more  only  through  succession 
and  change.  "  Every  possibility  and  actuality  that  in 
the  (first)  principle  is  as  it  were  comflicate^  united,  one, 
in  other  things  is  explicate^  dispersed,  many.  The 
universe,  which  is  the  great  simulacrum  and  image  (of 
the  first  principle)  is — it  also— all  that  which  it  may  be 


s 


\ 


II 


IDENTITY  IN  GOD 


167 


in  its  kinds  and  principal  members,  as  containing  all 
matter,  to  which  no  element  of  the  whole  (the  universal) 
form  can  be  added,  in  which  no  phase  of  that  form  is 
ever  wanting  ;  but  it  is  not  all  that  which  it  may  be  in 
its  differences,  its  modes,  properties,  and  individuals  ; 
thus  it  is  a  mere  shadow  of  the  first  reality,  and  first 
potency,  and  so  far  in  it  reality  and  possibility  are  not 
the  same  absolutely,  that  no  part  of  it  is  all  that  which 
it  may  be  :  besides  that,  as  we  have  said,  the  universe  is 
all  that  it  may  be  only  in  explicitness,  dispersion,  dis- 
tinctness, whereas  its  principle  is  so  unitedly  and  in- 
diflferently,  for  in  it  all  is  all,  and  the  same,  simply, 
without  difference  or  distinction."  ^ 

Bruno  works  out  at  considerable  length  the  paradoxes 
to  which  this  identity  of  all  possibility  and  all  reality 
in  the  first  principle  lead.  Thus,  in  magnitude  it  is  both 
greatest  and  least,  and  as  in  magnitude,  so  in  goodness, 
in  beauty ;  the  sun  would  fitly  represent  such  a 
principle  if  it  were  at  the  same  moment  in  all  parts  of 
the  universe,  if  its  motion  were  so  swift  that  it  was 
everywhere  at  once,  and  therefore  motionless.  God, 
however,  is  not  only  all  that  the  sun  may  be,  but  also 
all  that  everything  else  may  be  —  "potency  of  all 
potencies,  reality  of  all  realities,  life  of  all  lives,  soul  of 
all  souls,  being  of  all  beings."  That  which  elsewhere  is 
contrary  and  opposite,  is  in  Him  one  and  the  same.^ 
Bruno  has  brought  us  back  in  a  curious  way  to  the 
very  first  principle  which  he  proposed  to  exclude  from 
contemplation  :  it  can  be  understood,  it  is  true,  only  by 
negations,  for  ou^l  intellect  cannot  measure  itself  with 
the  immeasurable  :  we  can  form  no  image  or  idea  of  a 
great  that  might  not  be  greater.  But  here  follows  one 
of  the  most  vital  steps  in   his   philosophy  : — As  the 

1  Lag.  257,  258.  s  Lag.  258-260. 


^\ 


k 


vA 


(I 


i68 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


one. 


Matter  or 
•ttbetrate 
of  the 
ipiritual 
world. 


ii 


I   • 


absolute  possibility,  the  first  principle  becomes  itself 
matter^  and  as  there  is  no  possibility  without  an  actuality, 
present  or  to  come,  the  absolute  possibility  is  also 
Matter  and  absolute  reality,  or  matter  and  form  coincide  in  the 
One}  We  approach  this  conclusion  first  from  the  con- 
sideration of  matter  as  "  subject "  (substrate).  From  the 
changes  of  one  natural  substance  into  others  we  inferred 
a  universal  substrate,  undifferentiated,  which  formed  at 
once  the  basis  of  the  community  of  nature  in  things, 
and  the  ground  of  their  diflFerence.^  But  the  spiritual 
and  the  corporeal  worlds^  also,  as  distinguished  from 
one  another,  imply  a  common  "  subject "  or  substrate 
in  which  they  are  one  or  identical.  Bruno  refers,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  Plotinus '  as  having  held  that  distinction 
and  diflference  imply  a  common  ground  or  unity,  and 
that  "intelligible"  distinctions  are  not  exempt  from 
this  rule.  "As  man  qud  man  is  diflFerent  from  lion 
qud  lion,  but  in  the  common  nature  of  animal  or  of 
corporeal  substance  they  are  one  and  the  same,  so  the 
matter  of  things  corporeal,  as  such,  is  different  from  the 
matter  of  things  incorporeal,  as  such  :  but  from  another 
point  of  view  it  is  the  same  matter  which  in  dimensions 
or  extension  is  corporeal  matter,  and  which  when 
without  dimensions  or  extension  is  an  incorporeal  sub- 
stance. In  things  eternal  (spiritual)  there  is  one  matter 
in  one  simple  realisation,  in  things  variable  (corporeal) 
matter  has  now  one,  now  another  ;  in  the  former,  it  has 
at  one  time  and  all  together  all  that  which  it  can  have, 
and  is  all  that  it  may  be ;  in  the  latter,  at  many  times, 
on  different  occasions,  and  in  succession.  The  former 
has  all  species  of  figure  and  dimension,  and  because 
it  has  all,  it  has  none  :  for  that  which  is  so  many 
diverse  things,  cannot  be  any  one  of  them  in  particular. 

^  Lag.  261.  '  Lag.  266.  '  Sufroj  ch.  i.    Cf.  Plotinni,  Erniead,  ii.  4.  4. 


II        NATURE  AS  ONE  AND  AS  MANY     169 

That  which  is  all  must  include  every  particular  exist- 
ence.^ In  it,  absolute  potency  and  absolute  actuality, 
matter  and  form,  do  not  differ  at  all ;  it  is  the  extreme 
of  purity,  simplicity,  individuality,  and  unity,  because  it 
is  absolutely  all.  It  is  individual  in  the  highest  sense. 
Being  both  matter  and  form,  it  is  neither  :  as  matter,  it 
has  all  dimensions  and  none ;  as  form,  it  has  all  formal 
existence  or  qualities  and  none.  The  corporeal  matter 
is  contracted  to  this  or  that  dimension,  whereas 
spiritual  matter  is  free  {absolutd)  of  dimensions,  there- 
fore is  both  above  all,  and  comprising  all.  Thus  matter 
in  itself,  being  without  dimensions,  is  indivisible  :  it 
acquires  dimensions  according  to  the  nature  of  the  form 
it  receives :  the  dimensions  under  the  human  form 
differ  from  those  under  the  horse  form,  and  from  those 
under  the  olive  or  the  myrtle  form.  But  before  it  can 
be  under  any  of  these  forms,  it  must  have  in  faculty  alK 
their  dimensions,  as  it  has  the  possibility  or  potency  of 
receiving  all  the  forms.  In  itself  it  includes  rather  than 
excludes  all  dimensions,  because  it  does  not  receive  them 
as  from  without,  but  sends  them,  brings  them  forth, 
from  itself,  as  from  the  womb."*  In  other  words. 
Nature^  under  one  aspect,  is  a  spiritual  unity,  in  whichi 
are  comprised  all  possible  differences,  or  all  separate 
existences  :  under  another  it  is  these  many  existences 
themselves,  in  each  of  which,  in  succession,  all  differ- 
ences are  "  realised,"  all  modes  come  into  being  :  and 
finally,  under  another  aspect,  it  is  the  force  which  brings 
forth  the  separate  forms  or  existences  out  of  the 
formless,  indeterminate,  undifferentiated  unity  of  being, 
or  God.  ^ 

The  two  kinds  of  matter,  or  potentiality,  the  lower 

*  Lag.  269. 
^  Lag.  268-271.     Bruno  refers  here  to  Averroes,  and  especially  to  Plotinus,  v.  ch.  i. 


r. 


I 


170 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


The  imity 
of  spirit 

and  body. 


■< 


and  the  higher,  are  thus  essentially  one  ;  so  we  reach 
the  notion,  not  indeed  of  "the  highest  and  best 
principle,"  as  Bruno  is  again  careful  to  remind  us,  but 
of  the  soul  of  the  world,  as  reality  of  all,  and  potency 
of  all,  and  all  in  all.  Thus  in  the  end,  although  in- 
dividuals are  innumerable,  all  things  are  one ;  and  the 
knowledge  of  this  unity  is  the  goal  and  limit  of  all 
philosophy  of  nature. 

This  unity,  which  embraces  all  the  knowable,  is  the 
subject  of  the  fifth  dialogue  of  the  Causa.     The  steps  by 
which  we  have  reached  it  are  : — first,  the  identification 
of  a  common  nature,  or  substratum  in  things  corporeal, 
— corporeal  matter,  that  which  is  common  to  all  physical 
existences ;  secondly,  the  recognition  that  there  must 
similarly  be  a  corresponding  matter,  or  common  ground 
of  things  spiritual ;    there  also  diflFerences   exist   and 
demand  an  identity  ;  and  finally,  corporeal  matter  and 
spiritual  matter  must  themselves  coincide  in  ground; 
there  must  exist  that  which  is  indiflTerently  either,  or 
which  is  the  potency  of  both,  and  their  "  subject "  or 
substratum.     To  the  objection  that  to  have  dimensions 
is  characteristic  of  matter,  it  is  answered  that  each  kind 
of  matter  has  dimensions,  only  the  latter  has  them 
absolutely,  i^.  it  has  all  indiflTerently,  and  therefore  none, 
while  the  other  is  always  "  contracted  "  to  one  or  other 
at  each  instant,  but  has  all  successively.     We  have  seen 
that  at  the  close  of  the  fourth  dialogue  Bruno  refers 
again  to  the  first  principle,  unknowable,  or  knowable 
only  by  faith,  and  professes  to  abstain  from  any  con- 
sideration  of  it.     It  is  quite  clear,  however,  that  Bruno 
could  not  have  said  of  it  anything  other  than  he  says 
of  this  unity  of  the  corporeal  and  the  spiritual  itself. 
That  which  is  implicitly  all  reality  in  such  a  manner 
that  it  is  at  the  same  time  none  of  the  particular  forms 


K' 


11  MATTER  AS  THE  ULTIMATE  UNITY  171 


/, 


d  of  the  real,  is  all  things  and  none — could  not  be  other 
than  the  highest  principle.  Further,  this  unity  already 
has  the  distinction  applied  formerly  to  the  Highest 
Intelligence, — ^it  "is  all,"  and  at  the  same  time  it 
"creates  all,"  in  producing  the  forms  out  of  itself. 
The  unity  then  is  only  the  world-soul  from  a  special 
point  of  view,  or  the  world-soul  is  at  once  the  unity  of 

i  itself  and  of  the  corporeal  world.^  This  means  that  of 
the  spiritual  and  the  corporeal  worlds  each  is  a  unity  in 
itself,  and  each  only  a  special  aspect  of  a -final  unity" 
which  embraces  both.  It  is  no  wonder  then  that 
Schelling  found  a  congenial  spirit  in  Bruno.  The 
reality  of  this  final  matter  or  unity  is  moreover  higher, 
truer,  than  that  of  any  of  the-  forms  to  which  it  gives 

/)  birth,  and  finally  it  is  divine.  Little  more  is  wanting 
to  prove  the  entire  superfluity  of  the  theological  highest 
principle.  The  unity  (or  matter)  is  by  no  means  an 
"  abstract "  identity,  but  a  concrete  whole,  which  con- 
tains all  differentiation  in  itself,  and  a  "  dynamic  "  being, 
which  produces,  or  realises,  its  own  modes.  "  Deter- 
minate, sensible,  explicate  existence  is  not  the  highest 
characteristic  {raggione)  of  actuality,  but  is  a  thing 
consequent,  an  eflFect  of  the  latter ;  thus  the  principal 
essence  of  wood,  e,g,  the  characteristic  of  its  actuality, 
does  not  consist  in  its  being  *  bed ' ;  but  in  its  being 
of  such  a  substance  and  consistency  that  it  may  be  bed, 
bench,  beam,  idol,  or  anything  formed  of  wood. 
Nature,  however,  from_its,material  produces  all  things, 
not  as  art,  by  mechanical  removal  or  addition  of  parts, 
but  by  separation,  birth,  efflux,  as  the  Pythagoreans 
understood,"  —  Bruno  adds  Anaxagoras,  Democritus, 
the  Wise  Men  of  Babylon,  Moses  !  "  Rather,  then,  it 
contains  the  forms  and  includes  them,  than  is  empty  of 

1/     ^  Compare  the  ambiguity  in  Spinoza's  definition  of  mind  in  relation  to  body. 


M 


I! 


'    f 

if 


Coincid- 
ence of  all 
things  in 
the  One. 


Ih/f 


'"l 


!l'l 


172 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


them,  or  excludes  them;  and  matter,  which  makes 
explicit  what  it  contains  implicitly,  ought  to  be  called  a 
Divine  thing :  it  is  the  substance  of  nature."  ^  Thus 
the  One  is  the  only  ultimate  reality  ;  it  is  neither  matter 
nor  form,  yet  both  together, — implicitly.  And  it  has 
no  ports,  or  all  parts,  for  all  parts  coincide  in  it,  the 
smallest  with  the  greatest,  in  it  all  particular  things 
coincide  with  one  another,  and  all  differences.  It  has 
all  possible  existence  and  is  therefore  unchangeable, 
it  has  all  perfections  and  therefore  is  infinitely  perfect. 

"The  universe  is  one,  infinite,  immovable.      One 
is  the  absolute  possibility,  one  the  reality.     One  the 
form  or  soul,  one  matter  or  body.     One  the  thing,  one 
the  ens.     One  the  greatest  and  best,  which  can  not  be 
comprised,  and  therefore   can    neither  be  ended   nor 
limited,  and  even  so  is  infinite  and  unlimited,  and  con- 
sequently immovable.     It  does  not  move  locally,  for 
there  is  no  place  outside  of  itself,  to  which  it  might 
transport  itself  (for  it  is  the  all).     Of  it  is  no  generation, 
for  there  is  no  other  existence  which  it  can  desire  or 
expect,  for  it  has  all  existence.      Of  it  is  no  corrup- 
tion, for    there    is    no  other    thing  to   which  it  can 
change ;    it   is   everything.     It   cannot   grow   less   or 
greater,  for  it  is  infinite  ;  it  cannot  be  added  to,  and  it 
cannot   be   subtracted  from,   for   the   infinite   has  no 
proportional  parts.     It  cannot  be  subject  to  mutation 
in  any  quality  whatever,  nor  is  there  anything  contrary 
to,  or  diverse  from  it,  which  may  alter  it,  for  in  it  all 
things  are  in  harmony."  *     In  it  height  is  not  greater 
than  length  or  depth ;  hence  by  a  kind  of  simile  it  may 
be  called  a  sphere.     It  has  no  parts,  for  a  part  of  the 
infinite  must  be  infinite,  and  if  it  is  infinite  it  concurs  in 
one  with  the  whole  ;  hence  the  universe  is  one,  infinite. 


»  Lag.  273,  274. 


'  Lag.  277. 


II 


FINITE  EXISTENCES 


173 


without  parts.     Within  it  there  is  not  part  greater  and 
part  less,  for  one  part,  however  great,  has  no  greater 
proportion  to  the  infinite  than  another,  however  small ; 
and  therefore,  in  infinite  duration,  there  is  no  difference 
between  the  hour  and  the  day,  between  the  day  and  the 
year,  between  the  year  and  the  century,   between  the 
century  and  the  moment ;  for  moments  and  hours  are 
not  more  in  number  than  centuries,  and  those  bear  no 
less  proportion  to  eternity  than  these.     Similarly,  in  the 
immeasurable,  the  foot  is  not  different  from  the  yard, 
the  yard  from  the  mile,  for  in  proportion  to  immensity, 
the  mile  is  not  nearer  than  the  foot.     Infinite  hours  are 
not  more  than  infinite  centuries,  infinite  feet  are  not  of 
greater  number   than   infinite   miles.^      Thus,   Bruno 
frankly  draws  the  conclusion,  which  is  inherent  in  all 
pantheistic  thought,  that  in  the  infinite  all  things  are 
indifferent ;  there  are  no  proportional  parts  thereof — in  indiffcr- 
it  one  is  not  greater   nor   better  than  another  :   "  In  thSg^^in^^ 
comparison,  similitude,  union,  identity  with  the  infinite,  ^'^"fi'^'^^- 
one  does  not  approach  nearer  by  being  a  man  than  by 
being  an  ant,  by  being  a  star  than  by  being  a  man.     In 
the  infinite  these  things  are  indifferent,  and  what  I  sav 
of  these  holds   of  all  other  things  or  particular  ex- 
istences.    Now   if  all   these   particular   things  in  the 
infinite  are  not  one  and  another,  are  not  different,  are 
not  species,    it    necessarily  follows  that  they  are  not 
number  (i,e,  not  distinct) — the  universe   is  again   an 
immovable,  unchangeable  one.     If  in  it  act  does  not 
differ  from  potency,  then  point,  line,  superficies  and 
body  do  not  differ  in  it  (for  each  is  potency  of  the 
other — a  line  by  motion  may  become  a  surface,  a  surface 
a  body).     In   the  infinite,  then,  point  does  not  differ 
from  body  ;  since  the  point  is  potency  of  body,  it  does  not 

*  Lag.  278.  4. 


I' 
I    I 


i' 


.     1,1,, in niii—n*^ 


llUIJIIil 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


I!  V 


i 


'h,    'I 


1.1  ■ 


differ  from  body,  where  potency  and  act  are  one  and  the 
same  thing.  If  point  does  not  differ  from  body,  centre 
from  circumference,  finite  from  infinite,  the  greatest  from 
the  least,  then  the  universe,  as  we  have  said,  is  all  centre, 
or  the  centre  of  the  universe  is  everywhere  ;  or,  again, 
the  circumference  is  everywhere  but  the  centre  is 
nowhere."  Thus,  not  only  are  the  particular  existences 
indifferent  in  the  infinite :  they  have  also  in  it  no  true 
reality,  ue.  their  existence  is  a  purely  relative  one.^ 

We  have  now  to  consider  the  relation  of  particular 
things  one  to  another.     It  follows  from  the  argument 
that  all  things  are  in  all ;  each  particular  thing  has  the 
possibility  of  all  reality,  has  all  reality  implicit  in  itself, 
but  only  one  mode  is  at  any  particular  time  realised,  and 
the  life  of  particular  things  consists  in  their  constant 
transmutation  from  one  mode  to  another.     While  the 
universe  comprehends  all  existence   and  all  modes  of 
existence, — of  particular  things,  each  has  all  existence, 
but  not  all  modes  of  existence,  and  cannot  actually  have 
all  circumstances  and  accidents,  for   many  forms  are 
incompatible  in  the  same  subject,  either  as  contraries  or 
as  belonging  to  diverse  species.     The  same  individual 
subject  {supposito)   cannot   be  under  the  accidents  of 
horse  and  of  man,  under  the  dimensions  of  a  plant  and 
of  an  animal.     Moreover,  the  universe  comprehends 
all  existence  wholly,  because  outside  of  and  beyond 
infinite  existence  there  is  nothing  that  exists,  for  there 
is  no  outside  or  beyond  :  of  particular  things  on  the 
other  hand,  each  comprehends  all  existence,  but  not 
wholly,  for  beyond  each  are  infinite  others.     But  the 
ens^   substance,   essence   of    all    is    one,   which   being 
infinite  and  unlimited  in  its  substance  as  in  its  duration, 
in  its  greatness  as  in  its  force,  can  neither  be  called 
principle  nor  resultant ;  for  as  everything  concurs  in  its 


u 


II 


OPTIMISM 


175 


unity  and  identity,  it  is  not  relative,  but  absolute.  In 
the  one  infinite,  immovable,  which  is  substance,  ens^ 
there  is  multitude,  number  ;  and  number,  as  "  mode  "  of 
the  ens,  differentiates  thing  from  thing  ;  it  does  not 
therefore  make  the  ens  to  be  more  than  one,  but  to  be  of 
many  modes,  forms,  and  figures.  Hence  "  leaving  the 
logicians  to  their  vain  imaginings,"  we  find  that  all  that 
makes  difference  and  number  is  pure  accident,  pure 
figure,  pure  "complexion";  every  creation  of  whatso- 
ever sort  it  may  be  is  an  alteration,  the  substance 
remaining  always  the  same,  for  there  is  only  One  Being, 
divine,  immortal.^ 

Thus  all  things  are  in  the  universe,  the  universe  in  Beauty, 
all  things ;  we  in  it,  it  in  us ;  and  so  all  concurs  in  a  ^'™°^>'' 

>.  .  x^**wv»*»»    XXX    a.  permanence 

perfect  unity.  Therefore,  cries  Bruno,  we  need  not  be  °^  °^*"'^«- 
troubled  in  spirit,  nor  be  afraid ;  for  this  unity  is  one, 
stable,  and  always  abides  ;  this  one  is  eternal ;  every 
aspect,  every  face,  every  other  thing,  is  vanity,  is  as 
nought ;  all  that  is  outside  of  this  One  is  nought. 
These  philosophers  have  found  the  wisdom  that  they 
love,  who  have  found  this  unity.  Wisdom,  truth,  unity, 
are  the  same.  All  difference  in  bodies,  difference  of 
formation,  complexion,  figure,  colour,  or  other  property, 
is  nothing  but  a  varying  aspect  of  one  and  the  same 
substance, — an  aspect  that  changes,  moves,  passes  away, 
of  one  immovable,  abiding,  and  eternal  being,  in  which 
are  all  forms,  figures,  members,  but  indistinct  and  "  ag- 
glomerated," just  as  in  the  seed,  or  germ,  the  arm  is  not 
distinct  from  the  head,  the  sinew  from  the  bone,  and  the 
distinction  or  "disglomeration"  does  not  produce  another 
and  new  substance,  but  only  realises  in  act  and  fulfil- 
ment certain  qualities  of  the  substance,  already  present. 
The  coincidence  of  Bruno's  doctrine  with  some  of 

*  Lag.  pp.  278-281. 


\\\ 


Id 


Ml 


/ 


176 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Coincidence 
of  Con- 
traries. 


/ 


"  Signs.' 


hi 


Spinoza's  principal  positions  is  striking,  although  their 
terms  are  difFerent.  The  indeterminate  all-comprising 
unity  of  Bruno  is  that  which  was  afterwards  called  by 
Spinoza  substance;  its  two  aspects,  material  and  spiritual 
—substances  with  Bruno,— are  attributes  in  Spinoza, 
and  finally,  the  innumerable  finite  and  passing  modes 
with  both  are  mere  accidents,  and  therefore  do  not 
determine  any  change  in  the  one  reality  itself.  In  a 
subsequent  chapter  other  more  detailed  resemblances 
will  be  pointed  out  in  their  bearing  on  the  history  of 
Spinoza's  development. 

The  concluding  portion  of  this  dialogue  and  of  the 
work  is  taken  up  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Coincidence 
of  Contraries,  which  derives  from  that  of  the  unity  and 
coincidence  of  all  diflFerences,  and  which,  although  it 
was  undoubtedly  contained  in  his  own  system,  Bruno 
obtained  directly  from  Nicholas    of   Cusa.     It  is  an 
indirect  proof,  from  the  side  of  particular  things  them- 
selves, of  the  identity  of  all  in  the  One.     The  first 
illustrations  are   geometrical.^     The   straight  line  and 
the  circle,  or  the  straight  line  and  the  curve,  are  oppo- 
sites ;  but  in  their    elements,  or    their    minima,  they 
coincide,  for,  as  Cusanus  saw,  th^re  is  no  diflTerence 
'  between  the  smaUest  possible  arc  and  the  smaUest  possible 
\  chord.     Again,  in  the  maximum  there  is  no  diflFerence 
^  between  the  infinite  circle  and  the  straight  line  ;  the 
'  greater  a  circle  is,  the  more  nearly  it  approximates  to 

strwghtness as  a  line  which  is  greater  in  magnitude 

than  another  approximates  more  nearly  to  straightness,  so 
the  greatest  of  all  ought  to  be  superiatively,  more  than  all, 
straight,  so  that  in  the  end  the  infinite  straight  line  is  an 
infinite  circle.  Thus  the  maximum  and  the  minimum 
/come  together  in  one  existence,  as  has  akeady  been  proved, 

1  Lag.  28$.  3$. 


/ 


II    "VERIFICATIONS"  OF  COINCIDENCE  177 

and  both  in  the  maximum  and  in  the  minimum,  con- 
traries are  one  and  indiflFerent. 

These  geometrical  illustrations  are  "  signs  "  of  the 
identity  of  contraries,  those  which  follow  are  called  by 
Bruno  **  verifications,"  ^  the  first  of  which  is  taken  from  "  verifica- 
the  primary  qualities  of  bodies.    The  element  of  heat,  its 
"  principle,"  must  be  indivisible — it  cannot  have  differ- 
ences within  itself,  and  can  be  neither  hot  nor  cold, 
therefore  it  is  an  identity  of  hot  and  cold.     "  One  con- 
trary is  the  *  principle '  or  starting-point  of  the  other, 
and  therefore  transmutations  are  circular,  because  there 
is  a  substrate,  principle,  term,  continuation  and  con-  ^ 
currence  of  both.     So  minimal  warmth  and  minimal  |  | 
cold  are  the  same.     The  movement  towards  cold  takes  j  / 
its  beginning  from  the  limit  of  greatest  heat  (its  "  prin-  I ' 
ciple  "  in  another  sense).     Thus  not  only  do  the  two 
maxima  sometimes  concur  in  resistance,  the  two  minima 
in  concordance,  but  even  the  maximum  and  the  minimum 
concur  through  the  succession  of  transmutations.  Doctors 
fear  when  one  is  in  the  best  of  health  ;  it  is  in  the  height 
of  happiness  that  the  foreseeing  are  most  timid.     So  also 
the  "principle"  of  corruption  and  of  generation  is  one  and 
the  same.     The  end  of  decay  is  the  beginning  of  genera- 
tion ;  corruption  is  nothing  but  a  generation,  generation 
a  corruption.     Love  is  hate,  hate  is  Igve  in  the  end ; 
hatred  of  the  unfitting  is  love  of  the  fitting,  the  love 
of  this  the  hatred  of  that.     In  substance  and  in  root, 
therefore,  love  and  hate,  friendship  and  strife,  are  one  and 
the  same  thing.     Poison  gives  its  own  antidote,  and  the 
greatest  poisons  are  the  best  medicines.     There  is  but 
one  potency  of  two  contraries,  because  contraries  are 
apprehended  by  one  and  the  same  sense,  therefore  belong 
to  the  same  subject  or  substrate  ;  where  the  principle  {i,e. 

1  Lag.  288.  5. 
N 


< 


178 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


I 


the  source,  or  faculty)  of  the  knowledge  of  two  objects 
is  the  same,  the  principle  (i.e.  elementary  form)  of  their 
existence  is  also  one.     (Examples  are  the  curved  and  the 
plane,  the  concave  and  the  convex,  anger  and  patience, 
pride  and  humility,  miserliness.and  liberality).     In  con- 
clusion : — "  He  who  would  know  the  greatest  secrets  ot 
nature,  let  him  regard  and  contemplate  the  minima  and 
V  maxima  of  contraries  and  opposites.     Profound  magic  it 
is  to  know  how  to  extract  the  contrary  after  having  found 
the  point  of  union''     Aristotle  was  striving  towards  it, 
but  did  not  attain  it,  said  Bruno  ;  "  remaining  with  his 
foot  in  the  genus  of  opposition,  he  was  so  fettered  that 
he  could  not  descend  to  the  species  of  contrariety.  .  .  . 
but  wandered  further  from  the  goal  at  every  step,  as 
when  he  said  that  contraries  could  not  co-exist  at  the 
same  time  in  the  same  subject."  ^     There  is  a  naive  but 
at  the  same  time  a  bold  realism  in  this  demand  of 
Bruno's  that  reality  shall  correspond  even  to  the  simpler 
unities  of  thought — unities  which   after  all  are  mere 
limitations.     It  is  only  because  we  cannot  distinguish  in 
imagination  between  an  infinite  circle  and  a  straight  line 
that  their  identity  in  actual  existence  is  postulated,  and 
so   the   minimal   chord  and  minimal   arc   coincide   to 
our  limited  imagination  only.     Admittedly  in  the  case 
of  sense- qualities  the   argument    is    from  oneness  of 
faculty  knowing  to  oneness  of  things  known.     These, 
however,  are  only,  as  we  have  said,  '*  signs  *'  and  "  veri- 
fications "  of  a  metaphysical  truth  which  is  arrived  at 
by  other  methods. 

A  corresponding  passage  m  the  De  Minimo  ^  explains 
more  fully  the  coincidence  of  contraries  in  the  minimum : 
— "  In  the  minimum,  the  simple,  the  monad,  all  opposites 
coincide,   odd  and   even,   many   and   few,    finite  and 

1  Lag.  288,  289.  a  0/.  Lat,  I  3.  147.  i. 


I 


II    " VERIFICATIONS''  OF  COINCIDENCE  179 

infinite  ;  therefore  that  which  is  minimum  is  also  maxi- 
mum, and  any  degree  between  these."  Besides  the 
coincidence  of  contraries  in  God  as  the  monad  of 
monads,  the  examples  are  given  of  the  indifference  of 
all  dimensions  in  the  universe,  and  the  ubiquity  of  its 
centre  ;  the  indifference  of  the  radial  directions  from 
the  centre  of  a  particular  sphere  ;  the  indifference  of  all 
points  in  the  diurnal  rotation  of  the  earth,  so  that  any 
point  whatever  is  east,  west,  north,  or  south  ;  the  "  sub- 
jective "  coincidence  of  concave  and  convex  in  the  circle 
("subjective"  meaning  "in  the  thing  itself");  the 
coincidence  of  the  acute  and  the  obtuse  angle  in  the 
inclination  of  one  line  to  another  ;  that  of  smallest  arc  and 
chord  as  of  greatest  arc  and  chord,  "  whence  it  follows 
that  the  infinite  circle  and  the  infinite  straight  line,  also 
the  infinite  diameter,  area,  and  centre  are  one  and  the 
Lasdy,   we  have  the   coincidence  of  swiftest 


same. 


motion  with  slowest,  or  with  rest,  "  for  the  absolutely 
swift  (swift  *  simplicitery  i.e.  in  its  highest  possible 
manifestation,  without  any  degree  of  the  contrary,  slow- 
ness) which  moves  from  A  to  B,  and  from  B  to  A,  is 
at  once  in  A,  and  in  B,  and  in  the  whole  orbit,  therefore, 
it  stands  still." 

These  coincidences  are  again  of  two  kinds  :  some 
*'  subjective  "  in  the  modern  sense,  e.g,  the  coincidences 
of  directions  in  the  globe  ;  any  one  may  be  taken  as 
depth  according  to  the  spectator's  standpoint ;  others 
are  "objective,"  e.g.  when  in  God  the  one  and  the 
many  are  said  to  coincide.  According  as  the  stress 
is  laid  on  one  or  on  the  other,  the  theory  may  be 
regarded  as  either  dualistic  (as  Cusanus'  really  was)  or 
as  pantheistic.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  it 
was  in  the  latter  sense  that  Bruno  held  the  coincidence 
of  contraries. 


T 


r 


\ 


^1 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    INFINITE    UNIVERSE THE    MIRROR    OF    GOD  ^ 


ill 


i 


In  the  contemplation  of  the  infinite,  writes  Bruno,  man 
attains  his  highest  good.  All  things  aspire  to  the  end 
for  which  they  are  ordained,  and  the  more  perfect  its 
nature  the  more  nobly  and  effectively  does  each  aspire. 
Man  alone,  however,  as  endowed  mth  a  twofold  nature, 
pursues  a  twofold  good, — *'on  the  boundary  line  of 
eternity  and  time,  between  the  archetypal  world  and  the 
copy,  the  intelligible  and  the  sensible,  participating  in 
either  substance."  ^  Human  effort  can  find  satisfaction 
in  none  but  the  highest  and  first  truth  and  goodness. 
Neither  our  intellect  nor  our  will  ever  rests.  It  is  clear 
therefore  that  their  end  lies  not  in  particular  goods  or 
truths  which  lead  us  on  from  one  to  another  and  to 
another,  but  in  universal  good  and  truth,  outside  of 
and  beyond  which  no  good  or  truth  exists.  So  long 
as  we  believe  that  any  truth  is  left  to  know,  or  any 
good  to  gain,  we  seek  always  further  truth,  desire 
always  further  good.  The  end  of  our  inquiry,  therefore, 
and  of  our  effort  cannot  be  in  a  truth  or  in  a  good  that 
is  limited.  In  each  and  all  is  the  desire  in-born  to 
become  all  things.  Such  infinite  desire  implies  the 
existence  in  reality  of  that  which  will  satisfy  it.     If 


^  Dt  Immeruo :  dt  P  Injinito :  jierotiamut,  etc. 


*  Op.  Lat.  t.  I.  p.  202. 


V 


PART    II 


HUMAN  DESIRE 


i8i 


"  Universal  Nature "  or  Spirit  is  able  to  satisfy  the 
appetite  of  each  *'  particular  nature  "  or  mode  of  itself, 
and  that  of  itself  as  a  whole,  then  the  understanding  and 
desire  which  are  innate,  inseparable  from  and  co-substan- 
tial with  each  and  all  shall  not  be  in  vain,  nor  look 
hopelessly  to  a  false  and  impossible  end.  Again,  were 
universal  nature  and  the  efficient  cause  content  with 
finite  truth  and  good,  they  would  not  satisfy  the  infinite 
aspiration  of  particular  things.  It  is  true  that  even  the 
desire  for  continuance  of  our  present  life  is  not  satisfied ; 
a  particular  mode  of  matter  cannot  realise  all  '*  forms  " 
or  ideas  at  once,  but  only  in  succession  and  one  by  one  ; 
it  knows  and  therefore  desires  only  that  which  is  present 
to  it  at  any  given  time  :  by  force  of  nature,  therefore,  it 
comes  in  its  ignorance  (which  arises  from  the  "  contrac- 
tion "  of  the  form  to  this  or  that  particular  matter  and 
the  limitation  of  matter  by  this  or  that  form)  to  desire 
to  be  always  that  which  it  now  is.  The  wise  soul,  how- 
ever, will  not  fear  death,  will  indeed  sometimes  wish  for 
it,  since  there  awaits  every  substance  eternity  of  duration, 
immensity  of  space,  and  the  realisation  of  all  being. 
"  Whatever  the  good  be  for  which  a  man  strives,  let 
him  turn  his  eyes  to  the  heavens  and  the  worlds  ;  there 
is  spread  before  him  a  picture,  a  book,  a  mirror,  in  which 
he  may  behold,  read,  contemplate  the  imprint  {vestigium)^ 
the  law,  and  the  reflection  of  the  highest  good — and 
with  his  sensible  ears  drink  in  the  highest  harmony,  and 
raise  himself  as  by  a  ladder,  according  to  the  grades  of 
the  forms  of  things,  to  the  contemplation  of  another, 
the  highest  world."  ^  The  contemplation  of  the  extended 
infinite  and  "  explicate  "  or  unfolded  nature  is  thus  only 
a  means  by  which  we  may  rise  to  the  contemplation  of 
the  infinite  in  itself,  "implicate"^  nature,  God.    "It  is  no 

>  op.  Lat.  \.  I.  p.  203. 


The  uni- 
verse in- 
finite. 


182 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


frivolous  or  futile  contemplation,  but  one  most  weighty 
and  worthy  of  the  perfect  man,  which  we  pursue,  when 
wc  seek  the  splendour,  the  fusion,  and  the  inter- 
communication of  divinity  and  of  nature  not  in  an 
Egyptian,  Syrian,  Greek  or  Roman  individual,  not  in 
food,  drink,  or  any  ignoble  matter,  with  the  gaping 
many,  but  in  the  august  palace  of  the  all-powerful,  in 
the  immeasurable  space  of  the  Ether,  in  the  infinite 
potency  of  twofold  nature,  all-becoming  and  all-creat- 
ing. So  from  the  eternal  vast  and  immeasurable  effect 
in  visible  things,  we  comprehend  the  eternal  and  the 
immeasurable  majesty  and  goodness.  Let  us  then  turn 
our  eyes  to  the  omniform  image  of  the  omniform  God, 
and  gaze  upon  the  living  and  mighty  reflection  of  Him." 

The  three  characteristics  of  the  universe  as  a  mirror 
of  God  which  Bruno  sought  to  drive  home  to  the  minds 
of  men  were  its  infinite  extent,  the  infinite  number  of  its 
parts,  and  its  uniformity,  or  the  similarity  of  its  consti- 
tuent elements  throughout  its  whole  extent.  His  illus- 
trations and  his  arguments  would  in  many  cases  cause  a 
smile  if  they  were  put  forward  seriously  at  the  present 
day,  but  no  absurdities  can  outbalance  his  enthusiasm, 
the  readiness  and  thoroughness  of  his  polemic  against 
Aristotle  and  the  old  cosmology,  and  the  fertility  of 
imagination  by  which  he  is  able  to  look,  and  to  make 
others  look,  at  things  from  his  new,  and  therefore,  at 
first,  confusing  point  of  view. 

Bruno's  arguments  rest  partly  on  inferences  from 
sense-knowledge,  partly  on  the  principle  of  sufficient 
reason.  Thus  the  infinity  of  extent  is  evidenced,  first, 
by  the  teaching  of  sense,  in  the  constant  change  which 
our  circle  of  vision  undergoes  as  we  move  from  one  place 
to  another.  There  always  appears  to  be  an  ultimate 
limit,  but  no  sooner  do  we  move  than  the  limit  is  seen  to 


n  THE  UNIVERSE  INFINITE  IN  EXTENT  183 

have  been  only  apparent ;  so,  it  may  be  inferred,  could 
we  transfer  ourselves  with  our  senses  to  any  of  the 
distant  stars,  we  should  still  seem  to  ourselves  to  be  in 
the  centre  of  a  closed  sphere, — the  very  same  appear- 
ance which  is  presented  to  us  on  this  earth. 

Aristotle's  theory  of  the  limitation  of  space  by  the 
ultimate  sphere  of  the  heavens  was  open  to  objections, 
many  of  which  were  raised  in  the  early  schools.     The 
"  subtle  Averroes  "  had  endeavoured  to  avoid  some  of 
these  by  the  doctrine  that  beyond  this  outer  sphere  is 
the  divine  being,  the  eternal  self-sufficient  Mind.^     "  But 
how,"  asks  Bruno,  "  can  body  be  bounded  by  that  which 
is  not  body  ?     The  divine  nature  is  no  less  nor  in  any 
other  manner  within  the   whole  than   without;   it   is 
neither  place  nor  in  place."  ^     Space  therefore  is  always 
bounded  by  space,  body  by  body,  that  is,  each  is  in- 
finite in  extent.     Were  divinity  that  which  bounds  space, 
it  would  itself  be  space  under  another  name.^     Aristotle's 
theory  implied  that  the  universe  as  a  whole  was  not  in 
any  place  or  space.     The  "  place  "  of  each  body,  he  had 
said,  is  the  containing  surface  of  the  sphere  above  it ; 
the  outermost  sphere,  therefore,  as  there  is  no  other 
beyond  it,  is  itself  uncontained  and  without  place.     The 
theory  implied  also  the  identity  of  body  and  space,  and 
was  the  ground  of  Aristotle's  rejection  of  the  vacuum  in 
nature.    For  a  truer  conception  of  Space,  Bruno  turned  to 
an  earlier  commentator  (or  group  of  commentators — 
"  Philoponus  ")  on  Aristotle,  who  defined  it  as  "  a  con- 
tinuous physical  quantity  in  three  dimensions,  in  which 
the  magnitude  of  bodies  is  contained,  in  nature  before  and 
apart  from  all  bodies,  receiving  all  indifferently,  beyond 
all  conditions  of  action  and  passion,  not  mixing  with 
things,  impenetrable,  without  form  or  place."*     It  is 

1  De  Immenio,  bk.  i.  ch.  6.         «  Op.  Lat.  \.  i.  p.  22Z.         »  P.  227-         *  P-  *3i- 


i 


I 


f  I 


I 


184 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


It 


i 


» 


Ml 


called  physical,  because  it  can  not  be  separated  from  the 
existence  of  natural  things.  It  is  itself  not  contained, 
because  it  equals  with  its  dimensions  those  of  body  as 
the  transparency  of  a  crystal  has  the  same  dimensions 
with  the  crystal  itself.  Neither  body  nor  space  can  be 
thought  of  the  one  apart  from  the  other.^  Granted  the 
infinity  of  space,  that  of  matter  necessarily  follows  by  an 
inverse  of  the  principle  of  sufficient  reason  : — for  there 
is  no  reason,  according  to  Bruno,  why  this  small  part 
alone  of  space,  where  our  earth  is,  should  be  filled  ;  the 
eternal  operation  is  not  distinct  from  the  eternal  power, 
nor  could  it  be  the  will  of  God  to  cramp  nature,  which 
is  the  hand  of  the  all-powerful,  his  force,  act,  reason, 
word,  voice,  order  and  will.^  "  There  is  one  matter, 
one  power,  one  space,  one  efficient  cause,  God  and 
Nature,  everywhere  equally,  and  everywhere  powerful. — 
We  insult  the  infinite  cause  when  we  say  that  it  may  be 
the  cause  of  a  finite  eflPect ;  to  a  finite  eflFect  it  can  have 
neither  the  name  nor  the  relation  of  an  efficient."  » 

The  corresponding  argument  from  the  capacity  of 
our  human  imagination  to  think  always  of  a  greater 
than  any  given  magnitude,  Le.  its  inability  to  rest  short 
of  the  infinite,  is  expanded  elsewhere.  Our  imaginative 
faculty  is  the  umh-a  or  shadow  of  nature  ;  its  power, 
therefore,  of  adding  quantity  to  quantity,  ad  infinitum, 
must  have  something  in  nature  to  which  it  corresponds  ; 
nature  does  not  give  a  faculty  for  which  there  is  no 
satisfaction.  There  is  then  in  truth  an  infinite  universe, 
such  as  our  imagination  demands.  Bruno  notices  the 
objection  that  on  this  theory  anything  whatever  might 
be  s^d  about  the  universe,  e.g.  that  it  is  infinite  man, 
since  one  can  imagine  a  human  form  filling  the  universe  ; 

'  Op,  Lst,  i.  1.  p.  232.   On  Space,  cf.  j^crot.  Art.  31,  33-37  (Vacuum,  Ether,  etc.), 
and  In/hito,  Lag.  365.  a  p.  ^j^,  >  p  ^^^ 


\^ 


II  ARISTOTLE  ON  FINITUDE  OF  WORLD  185 

and  he  replies,  "it  is  infinite  man,  or  infinite  ass,  or 
infinite  tree, — each  and  all,  since  in  the  infinite  all 
particular  things  are  one  and  the  same."  ^ 

The  arguments  we  have    traced   are: — (i)   What 
appears  to  be  a  limit  to  our  senses  always  proves  to  be 
imaginary,  when  we  are  able  to  test  it,  therefore  we  may 
infer  that  it  is  imaginary  in  other  cases ;  (2)  the  very 
notion  of  space,  implying  that  it  has  neither  form  nor 
place,  means  that  it  is  infinite,  limitless  ;  (3)  we  cannot 
imagine  a  portion  of  space  than  which  there  is  not 
another  greater,  and  so  ad  infinitum :  but  reality  cannot 
fall  short  of  thought,  therefore  space  is  infinite.     The 
arguments  of  Aristotle  against  the  infinity  of  the  world  Aristotle. 
are  taken  up  in  detail  in'^the  second  book  of  the  De 
Immenso.    As  the  controversy,  however  important  at  the 
time,  has  lost  much  of  its  interest  for  us,  we  need  only 
give  a  brief  sketch  of  its  main  lines.     The  first  argu- 
ment was  drawn  from  the  assumption  of  an  ultimate 
sphere  or  primum  mobile  which  moved  about  the  earth  as  1.  The/ri- 
a  centre.2    It  was  clear  that  if  the  universe  were  infinite  the  "^"^ 
radii  of  this  sphere  would  be  infinitely  prolonged,  and 
therefore  the  termini  of  any  two  given  radii  at  an  infinite 
distance  one  from  another.     The  motion  of  the  sphere 
would    thus    be   inconceivable,    for   it   would   require 
infinite  time  in  which  to  pass  from  one  point  to  another. 
The  answer  of  Bruno  was  that  the  universe  as  a  whole 
was  not  moveable  at  all,  nor  had  it  any  centre  ;  only  its 
parts  were  moved  and  each  of  these  had  its  own  relative 
and  finite  centre.     The  apparent  motion  of  the  sphere 
was  due  to  the  real  movement  of  the  earth  about  its 
axis.      A   similar  answer  was  given  to  the  argument  »•  The 
from   the   movements   of  bodies    according   to    their 

*  Of.  InfinitOy  Lag.  322.  i  ff.  for  the  argument. 
'  Bk.  ii.  ch.  2.  J  cf.  Ii^nito,  Dial,  v.,  Lag.  387. 


\\ 


r 


I 


il 

Pi 


T 


I 


¥ 


!     t 


3.     The 
whole  and 
its  parts. 


186 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


elements.     As  to  us  on  the  earth,  the  earth  appears  to  be 
the  centre  of  the  universe,  so  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
moon,  the  moon  will  appear  to  be  such.     Matter  rising 
from  the  earth  to  the  moon  would  appear  to  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  latter  to  fall.    These  distinctions  were  relative 
to  the  finite  worlds,  but  might  not  be  referred  to  the 
whole  universe.     As  the  earth  is  one  world,  the  moon 
another,  so  each  has  its  own  centre,  each  its  own  up  and 
Jown  :  nor  can  these  differences  be  assigned  absolutely 
to  the  whole  and  its  parts  together,  but  only  relatively 
to  the  position  and  condition  of  the  latter.^    In  his  third 
argument  Aristotle  sought  to  prove  that  infinite  body 
in  general  was  impossible.*     If  the  whole  is  infinite  its 
simple  elements  must  be  so  also.     These  must  be  either 
of  an  infinite   number  of  kinds,  different   from    one 
another,  or  of  a  finite  number  of  kinds,  or  all  of  the  same 
kind.     But  the  first  of  the  alternatives  is  impossible  on 
the  a  priori  ground  that  each  element  must  have  a  special 
kind  of  movement  corresponding  to  it,  and  the  kinds  of 
movement  are  actually  few  in  number  ;  the  second  and 
third,  because  the  movement  of  the  elements  should  then 
be  infinite,  whereas  in  the  actual  universe  motion  is 
limited  both  in  centre  and  circumference.     The  argu- 
ments, however,  do  not  apply  to  Bruno's  theory  of  the 
universe.     Motion  is  always  from  one  definite  point  to 
another ;  we  do  not  set  out  from  Italy  in  order  to  go 
on  ad  infinitum,  but  to  go  to  some  definite  point.     He 
does  not,  as  Epicurus  did,  regard  all  minima  as  in  infinite 
motion  downwards  through  the  universe  ;  there  is  no 
down,  no  centre,  no  up,  all  is  simply  and  generally  in 
flux.     It  is  not  the  elements  that  are  innumerable  in 
kind,  but  the  composite  bodies,  the  stars,  which  are 
constituted  by  them  ;  and  of  these  the  parts  move  about 


1  De  Imm,  i.  i.  264  ;  cf.  Inf.  392.  15. 


9  Bk.  ii.  ch.  4  (267  ff.). 


Iv 


II        THE  INFINITE  AND  THE  FINITE     187 

their  natural  body,  as  the  parts  of  the  earth  towards  the 
earth,  and  those  of  the  moon  toward  the  moon  in  their  own 
regions ;  all  motion  is  therefore  limited, — each  world  has, 
as  it  were,  margins  of  its  own.  The  idea  that  if  any  of 
the  elements,  as  fire  or  water,  were  infinite,  there  would 
be  infinite  lightness  or  gravity,  and  hence  that  the  universe 
would  move  as  a  whole  upwards  or  downwards,  is  equally 
at  fault.  To  the  universe  as  a  whole  the  terms  heavy  and 
light  do  not  apply,  but  only  to  its  parts,  the  finite  and 
determinate  bodies  consisting  of  finite  and  determinate 
elements.  These  elements,  whether  they  be  taken  as  of 
one  or  more  kinds,  since  they  cannot  move  outside  of 
the  universe,  must  have  finite  movements. 

The  fourth  argument  ^  was  based  upon  the  impossi-  4.  Action 
bility  of  action  between  an  infinite  body  and  a  second  infinftT^d 
body  whether  finite  or  infinite.  An  infinite  cannot  act  ^^^  ^°'*** 
upon  a  finite  because  the  action  would  necessarily  be 
timeless.  Were  it  in  time  we  could  then  find  a  finite 
body  which  in  the  same  time  would  produce  the  same 
eflfect  ;  but  there  can  be  no  such  equality  between  the 
finite  and  the  infinite.  Similarly  action  between  two 
infinites  would  occur  in  infinite  time  ;  in  other  words, 
would  not  take  place  at  all.  The  conclusion  is  that 
neither  fire  nor  earth  nor  any  of  the  elements  can  be 
infinite  in  quantity.  Bruno  suggests,  in  the  first  place,  ^ 
that  a  change  may  be  produced  timelessly ;  thus  if  a 
body  in  a  large  circle  cover  a  certain  space  in  the  minimum 
of  time,  a  body  in  a  smaller  circle  will  cover  a  less 
space  in  no  time,  for  nothing  can  be  smaller  than  the 
minimum.'  In  the  second  place,  no  action  of  the  whole 
or  efl?ect  upon  the  whole  exists,  it  is  only  the  finite 
bodies  within  it,  each  with  its  finite  force,  that  act  upon 
one  another.     Even  if  two  infinite  bodies,  over  against 

1  Bk.  ii.  ch.  6.         2  ch.  7.  (p.  278)  j  cf.  Infinito,  Lag.  33  5  ff.        »  Vide  infra,  ch.  5. 


1^1 


i88 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


II 


FIGURE  IN  BODY  AND  SPACE 


189 


one  another,  were  supposed,  their  action  would  not  be 
of  one  whole  upon  another,  but  of  the  parts  on  the  con- 
tiguous parts.^     Force  is  exerted  by  bodies  not  inlen- 
sively  but  extensivefyy  because  as,  where  one  part  of  a 
body  is,  there  another  is  not,  so  at  the  point  where  one 
part  of  the  body  acts  another  does  not.* 
5.  Propor-       A  difficulty,  not   unknown   to   recent   philosophy, 
!i>Thoie?n  occurred  as  to  the  relation  of  infinites  to  one  another, 
the  infinite.  Whatever  is  an  element  of  the  infinite  must  be  infinite 
also  ;  hence  both  earths  and  suns  arc  infinite  in  number. 
But  the  infinity  of  the  former,  said  Bruno,  is  not  greater 
than  that  of  the  latter  ;  nor,  where  all  are  inhabited,  are 
the  inhabitants  in  greater  proportion  to  the  infinite  than 
the    stars   themselves.^     Each   sun   is    surrounded   by 
several  earths  or  planets,  but  the  one  class  is  not  greater 
in  respect  of  its  infinite  than  the  other.     A  single  sun, 
earth,  constellation,  is  not  really  a  part  of  the  infinite  nor 
a  part  in  it,  for  it  can  bear  no  proportion  to  it.  A  thousand 
infinities  are  not  more  than  two  or  three,  and  even  one 
is   not   comprehensible   by   finite    numbers.       In    the 
innumerable  and  the  immeasurable  there  is  no  place  for 
more  or  less,  few  or  many,  nor  for  any  distinctions  of 
number   or    measure.*      The   matter    of  the   stars  is 
immeasurable,  and  no  less  immeasurable  is  that  of  the 
fiery  type  or  suns  than  of  the  aqueous  type  or  earths. 
Nor  does  the  fact  that  these  infinities  are  not  given  to 
sense  disprove  their  existence,  as  Aristotle  had  maintained. 
To  imagine  there  is  nothing  beyond  the  sphere  which 
limits  our  range  of  sight,  is  to  be  like  Bruno  as  a  child, 
when  he  believed  there  was  nothing  beyond  Mount 
Vesuvius  because  there  was  nothing  to  strike  his  senses.* 

1  op,  Lat,  i.  1.  p.  279.  •  1*.  p.  *8i. 

»  Bk.  ii.  ch.  8  (p.  2«3)  $  cf.  Op.  Lat,  I  4.  216,  and  /«/«>o.  Lag.  344  ff.  338. 
*  Op.  Lat,  i.  1.  p.  284.  *  P.  285. 


Though  each  class  be  infinite,  we  have  seen  that  the  infinite 
does  not  act  infinitely,  that  is  intensively y  but  acts  finitely, 
i.e.  extensively.  Each  individual  and  species  is  finite,  but 
the  number  of  all  individuals  is  infinite,  and  infinite  are  the 
matter  in  which  they  consist  and  the  space  in  which  they 
move.  Everywhere,  therefore,  limit  and  measure  are 
only  in  the  particular  and  the  individual,  which,  compared 
with  the  universe,  are  nothing. 

A  further  argument  was  derived  from  the  necessity  of  6.  Figure 
figure  in  body  and  from  the  relation  of  body  to  space.^  *""*  *^^' 
Every  body  is  known  to  us  as  of  a  certain  and  definite 
figure,  whereas  infinite  body  would  necessarily  be  un- 
figured.  In  this  case,  said  Bruno,  Aristotle  is  confounding 
body  with  space,  although  he  elsewhere  separates  the  two 
notions.  That  space  is  something  other  than  the  bodies 
which  fill  it,  that  it  is  more  than  limit  or  figure,  is  evident 
from  the  fact  that  always  between  any  two  corporeal  sur- 
faces, between  any  two  atoms,  there  is  space.  Nor  is  space 
merely  an  accident  of  body,  a  special  quality  of  it,  as  colour 
is,  for  example,  for  we  cannot  think  of  colour  without  a 
body  in  which  it  exists,  and  when  the  body  is  abstracted 
the  colour  goes  also,  whereas  space  may  be  thought  of 
apart  from  body,  and  body,  when  removed  does  not  take 
with  it  its  space.  Perhaps  we  should  say  that  space  is  really 
the  continuous  ether  or  light  which  penetrates  throughout 
the  universe,  and  seems  to  fill  space  more  continuously 
than  wood,  stone,  or  iron,  in  which  there  is  an  admixture  of 
vacuum.  Must  all  bodies  be  figured,  then  the  figure  of 
the  infinite  is  the  sphere.  The  dimensions  of  space  coincide 
with  those  of  body,  and  the  definition  given  of  body  as  tri- 
dimensional quantity  applies  also  to  space  : — there  cannot 
be  any  body  which  is  not  in  place,  nor  can  its  dimensions 
exist  without  equal  dimensions  of  the  containing  space. 

^  Bk.  ii.  ch.  10.  p.  293. 


i 


h 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


7.  The 
centre  of 
the  eartht 

CtCa 


8./Thc 
perfect  as 
the  self- 
limited. 


190 

A  seventh  argument,  closely  related  to  some  of  the 
others,  is  drawn  from  the  old  belief  in  the  earth  as  the 
centre  of  gravity,  the  heaviest  body  in  the  umverse,  and 
in  the  empyrean  as  the  outermost  limit  and  the  hghtest 
body  ^     But,  as  we  have  seen,  there  is  in  the  universe  no 
centre— as  the  stars  and  their  inhabitants  are  heavenly 
beings  to  us,  so  are  we  and  our  earth  to  them.     "Just 
as  the  earth  knows  no  centre  or  downward  direction 
proper  which  is  away  from  its  own  body,  but  only  a 
centre  of  its  mass,  a  central  cavern  of  its  heart,  from 
which  the  precious  life  is  diffused  through  the  whole 
body,  and  which  we  may  believe  to  be  the  chief  seat  of 
the  soul ;  so  there  must  be  in  the  moon  and  other  bodies 
a  centre  which  connects  all  parts,  to  which  every  member 
contributes,  and  which  is  nourished  by  all  the  forces  of 
the  living  body."     The  old  belief,  therefore,  that  if 
there  were  inhabitants  at  the  antipodes  they  would  be 
apt  to  fall  downwards  into  space,  or  that  the  parts  of 
the  moon  and  its  living  beings  might  fall  upon  our 
earth,  was  absurd,  for  the  face  of  the  earth  always  looks 
upward  in  the  direction  of  the  radii  from  the  centre  to 

the  superficies.^ 

The  last  argument  was  that  drawn  from  the  supposed 

perfection  of  the  universe.^     Aristotle  defined  the  perfect 

as  that  which  was  limited  by  itself,  not  by  another. 

Hence  the  immeasurable  would  not  be  perfect,  while  the 

world  was  perfect  because  limited  by  its  own  terminus. 

Again  body  does  not  pass  over  into  any  other  kind  of 

quantity,  but  it  is  the  limit  into  which  the  line  and  the 

point  flow.     The  first  argument,  said  Bruno,  would  hold 

of  any  fragment  of  body,  while  the  second  would  apply 

to  any  animal  or  member  of  an  animal,  for  these  also 

are  seIfM:ontained  and  do  not  pass  over  into  any  other 

1  Bk.  ii.  ch.  1 1.  *  P.  300  ff.  »  Bk.  ii.  ch.  12.  302  ff. 


V 


II  THE  WORLDS  INNUMERABLE        191 

kind.  Perfection  has  no  reference  to  quantity,  nor  to 
limitation  by  self,  which  is  a  geometrical  determination.^ 
For  this  mechanical  idea  of  perfection,  Bruno  substitutes 
a  teleological ;  the  perfect  is  that  which  consists  of  a 
number  of  parts  or  members,  working  together  towards 
the  end  for  which  the  whole  is  ordained  :  the  universe 
is  perfect  "  as  adorned  by  so  many  worlds,  which  are 
so  many  deities,  and  as  that  in  and  to  which,  as  a  unity 
embracing  the  perfection  of  all,  innumerable  things 
perfect  in  their  kind  are  reduced,  referred,  united."  ^ 

The  infinity  of  space  or  ether  and  of  matter  being  infinite 
proved,  it  follows  again,  by  the  principle  of  sufficient  ^oTi^'  ""^ 
reason,  that  the  ''  worlds  "  are  *'  innumerable  "  or  infinite 
in  number. — As  it  is  good  that  the  world  exists,  and 
would  be  bad  did  it  not  exist,  so  in  a  similar  space,  and 
where  similar  causes  are,  it  is  good  that  there  be  a  world, 
and  bad  should  there  not  be  one.  If  the  world  is  single, 
then  there  is  a  single,  finite,  particular  good,  and  infinite 
wide-spread  universal  evil.  He  who  is  able.  to.  produce 
good,  and  does  not  do  so,  without  cause,  is  evil ;  "  as 
not  to  be  able  is  privatively  evil,  to  be  able  and  to  be 
unwilling  would  be  so  positively^  and  God  in  regard  to 
the  finite  efltct  would  be  a  finitely  good  cause,  in  regard, 
however,  to  the  repression  of  infinite  realisation,  would 
be  infinitely  evil."  ^  Perfection  does  not  belong 
to  our  world,  our  system,  taken  by  itself,  since 
there  are  innumerable  other  possible  worlds  which 
cannot  be  contained  in  it.  Given  a  man  endowed 
with   all   human    perfections,    the    existence   of  other 

^  Bk.  ii.  ch.  13.  2  cf.  also  infra,  p.  199  ff. 

•  Delmm.  bk.  i.  ch.  10.  pp.  235-8  ;  cf.  Infinito,  312  f.,  316.  Bruno  does  not  use  the 
term  "  principle  of  sufficient  reason  "  :  his  principle  is  the  inverse  of  that  of  Leibniz — 
"  whatever  has  not  a  sufficient  reason  for  existing  is  necessarily  non-existent," — Bruno's 
being  that  "whatever  has  not  a  sufficient  reason  for  non-existence  {i,e.  whatever  is 
possible)  necessarily  exists." 


t 


Hi 


^1 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


192 

men  subordinate  to  him  is  not  excluded,  but  rather 
demanded  in  order  that  he  may  fulfil  the  harmony  of 
his  being.     So  the  best,  the  first,  of  the  monads,— which 
comprises  all  particular  things  in  itself,-€mbraces,  m 
spite  of  its  unity,  innumerable  worlds,  without  limit, 
under  its  corporeal  aspect.     One  does  not  suffice,  for  the 
productive  mind  diffuses  itself  throughout  the  whole 
universe,  wholly  in  every  part,  in  equal  goodness  and 
power  and  fills  the  void  in  order  that  its  great  image 
may  he  presented  throughout  the  whole.>     Nature  thus 
puts  forth  an  infinite  mirror  of  itself  and  a  fitting  re- 
flection ;  its  substance  is  infinite  and  its  force  eternal, 
there  is  an  explicit  immeasurable,  as  God  is  impliciily  m 
the  whole  and  everywhere  wholly.'     To   the  infinite 
nothing  finite  bears  any  proportion,  nor  can  be  a  fitting 
product  of  it.     Hence  if  it  communicate  itself  at  all  to 
corporeal  things,  or  unfold  its  magnitude  in  corporeal 
existences  and  in  multitude,  the  reflection  of  its  essence 
and  imprint  of  its  power  must  be  infinite  in  magnitude 
and  without  number.      "  Although,  when  we  consider 
individuals  singly,  under  that  proximate  and  immediate 
respect  in  which  they  are  particulars,  they  must  be  re- 
ferred to  a  finite  principle  and  cause  (since  a  finite  eflFect 
demands  a  finite  power),  in  the  consideration  of  the 
universe,  however,  each  and  aU  the  innumerable  exist- 
ences in  immeasurable  space  point  to  an  infimte  first 

cause. 


"  s 


Argument 
from  God 
to  the 
world. 


In  the  simplicity  and  unity  of  God's  being,  all  attri- 
butes are  one,  therefore  knowledge,  wiU,  and  power 
coindde.  The  consequences  of  this  doctrine  Bruno  un- 
folds in  a  series  of  aphorisms  or  propositions— which 
are   interesting   as   anticipating    Spinoza's   method   of 

.  De  /-»».  bk.  i.  ch. . ..  p.  239  i  &/»■  v*f-       '  O'  *»«•  '>''•  '•  '•■•"■  •■■  *♦'• 

»  tt.  &W.  ch.  II.  pp.  »4«.  *4»- 


l/> 


V 


II       KNOWLEDGE,  WILL,  AND  POWER    193 

"proof"  :^ — I.  The  Divine  essence  is  infinite.     2.  As 
the  measure  of  being,  so  is  the  measure  of  power.     3. 
As  the  measure  of  power,  so  is  the  measure  of  action. 
4.  God  is  absolutely  simple  essence  or  being  in  which 
there  can  be  no  complexity  nor  internal  diversity.     5. 
Consequently   in  him,  being,  power,   action,    volition, 
and  whatever  can  be  truly  attributed  to  him,  are  one  and 
the  same.     6.  Therefore  the  will  of  God  is  above  all 
things,  and  can  be  frustrated  neither  by  himself  nor  by 
another.     7.  Consequently  the  Divine  will  is  not  only 
necessary,  but  is  necessity  itself,  and  its  opposite  is  not 
only  impossible  but  impossibility  itself     8.  In  simple 
essence  there  cannot  be  contrariety  of  any  kind,  nor 
inequality  :  will,  therefore,  is  not  contrary  to,  nor  un- 
equal to,   power.     9.   Necessity  and  liberty    are    one, 
hence  what  acts  by  the  necessity  of  nature  acts  freely  ; 
it  would  not  act  freely  at  all  did  it  act  otherwise  than 
is  demanded  by  necessity  and  nature,  or  by  the  necessity 
of  nature.2     10.  There  is  not  an  infinite  power,  unless 
there   be   an    infinite  possible;    i,e.    there  is   not  that 
which  is  able  to  create  an  infinite  unless  there  be  that 
which  is  able  to  be  created.     What  is  a  power  which  is 
impossible  of  realisation  or  which  is  relative  to  an  im- 
possible }     1 1.  As  there  is  a  world  in  this  space,  so  also 
there  is  able  to  be  one  in  any  space  similar  to  that  which, 
were  this  world  removed,  would  remain  equal  to  the 
world.     1 2.  There  is  no  ground  for  denying,  outside  the 
world,  a  similar  space  to  that  in  which  the  world  is,  nor 
any  for  regarding  it  as  finite.^     14.  It  is  better  to  be 
than  not  to  be ;  it  is  more  worthy  to  create  what  is 
good  than  not  to  create  it.     To  posit  (create)  being  and 

1  p.  242  ff.  2  Cf.  Infinito,  Lag.  316.  21. 

'  No.  13  states  that  the  worlds  could  not  interfere  with  one  another,  since  space 
is  infinite. 


.Ul 


I 


I    'I 

( 

I 


194 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


I 


kl 


truth  is  incomparably  better  than  to  aUow  not-being  or 

\-  „      ,  f    The  potency  of  nature  ought  not  to  be 

;^'^^.      ;  ^c.  LainUued  for  infinite  duration 

for  t^en  potency  would  be  relative  to  an  .mposs.ble 

°6  Thatin'^niteUcyCwhetherexten.veor^^^^^^^^^ 

should  be  frustrated  of  existence  means  that  "fin'te^^ 
should  be  actually  posited,  as  space  «  axtuaUy  nfinue^ 
17.  As  this  space  can  receive  this  world  and  be  adorned 
thereby,  so  also  any  similar  space  whatever,  -dis^rmble 
from  it  a  similar  principle  being  Present,  covdd  have 
received  a  similar  world.^  19.  Of  God  -nd°f  nature 
we  should  think  as  highly  as  possible.  2°;  ^^  ^J 
greatest  things  nothing  should  be  rashly  asserted  which 
is  contrary  to  sense  and  reason.  , 

The  infinite  number  of  worlds  is  thus  made  to  de- 
pend for  its  proof  upon  the  identity  of  P-er^nd  -U 
S  will  and  knowledge,  i.e.  thought  in  God.     Whatever 
is  in   the   mind  of  God   is  realised  in  the  universe. 

K«.w...  Before    God     P-^  P^^^   ^"^ j!t%hTnge  "; 
-       present,   and    eternal  ;^^e    «    -f  ^V^iutanl  w':! 
purpose  or  to  deny  himself,     wnat  ne  wi 
L  can  are  one  and  the  same  ;  nor  can  he  do  what  h^ 
wills  not.  for  fate  is  the  Divine  wdl  itself.     Hence  as 
he  cannot  be  other  than  he  is,  so  nothing  can  be  done 
by  him  otherwise  than  as  it  is  done.   The  nature  of  G^ 
is  a  simple  substance  ;  however  many  names  be  predi- 
cted of  it,  they  signify,  one  and  aU^^e/anie  thing.' 
Infinite   virtue,    if  limited    neither    by   itself    nor  by 
another,  acts  by  the  necessity  of  its  own  namre,  not  by 
a  necessity  alien  to  itself  and  to  its  will ;    1    is  itself 
necessity.     The  necessity  by  which  it  acts,  therefore, 

ncccwary.  ,  p  ^   - 

9  Bk.  i.  ch.  1*. 


of  God. 


11 


NECESSITY  AND  LIBERTY 


195 


can   be  frustrated  neither  from  within,  by  itself,  nor 
from   without,    by   another :    not   the    former,    for   it 
cannot  be  both  one  thing  and  another,  nor  the  latter, 
because    its   necessity   is  the  law  of  all  other  things. 
There  can  be  nothing  which  may  prevent  this  nature, 
necessity,  will,  power,  from  proceeding  according  to  its 
whole  power,  which  is  goodness  itself,  according  to  its 
whole  goodness,  which  is  power  itself,   and  both    are 
infinite,  and  diffuse  themselves  infinitely.     Man's  liberty 
of  action  is  expressed  imperfectly,  and  sometimes  in  an 
imperfect  object,  is  continually  being  disturbed  by  passion 
and  ignorance  of  things ;  for  if  we  acted  without  any 
disturbance  of  the  will,  or  course  of  thought,  without 
ignorance,  or  passion,  then  our  action  would  be  deter- 
mined always  towards  the  better  of  two  opposed  ends. 
Before  we  act  we  stand  between  the  two  ways   and 
deliberate,   and  at  last  determine,  but  in   uncertainty 
and  perturbedness  of  spirit  ;  while  God,  as  in  nature 
most  perfect,  acts  in  the  one  of  two  ways  that  is  the 
most  fitting.    Nor  is  it  an  imperfection  of  nature  to  be 
determined  in  one  direction  only,  away  from  that  which 
may  lead  to  error.     Thus  we  may  not  refer  the  will 
and  action  of  God  to  a  liberty  of  this  kind,  of  being 
equally    or  unequally   disposed    to   two    contradictory 
volitions   or    acts — a   liberty  of  indifference— but  his 
liberty  is  of  the  kind  which  is  identical  with  necessity. 
Over  it  is  nothing  greater,  in  the  way  of  it  there  is 
nothing  equal,  all   things   in   all    and    throughout   all 
serve  it.     God's  knowledge  is  not  discursive,  involves 
no  effort.     To  be  in  the  mind  of  God  is  to  be  realised 
(species  concept  a  deo  est  effectio  res  que).     Thus  as  the 
perfect  monad,  he  is  intrinsically  and  extrinsically  the 
whole,  sustaining  all  things.     There  is  on  the  one  side 
infinite  goodness  and  infinite  desire  for  its  realisation, 


ii, 


n 


!l 


Alxtraet 
ideas. 


II 


I 

1 


196 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


on   the  other  mfinite  desire  of  being  realised  ;    the 
result  must  be  perfect  satisfaction  and  perfect  good. 

In  order  to  understand  how  far  Bruno  has  moved  at 
this,  the   final    stage    of    his    philosophy,   from    the 
Neoplatonism  of  its  beginnings,  the  ninth  chapter  of  the 
last  book  of  the  De   Immense   must   be   taken  mto 
account.*     It  is  interesting  in  view  of  the  relation  of 
Spinoza  to  Bruno,  as  well  as  of  the  consistency  of 
Bruno's  own  thought.     In  it  the  existence  of  abstract 
ideal  types  is  contended  against,-"  Nowhere  is  essence 
apart   from    existence ;  — nature  is   nothing  but   the 
virtue  that  is  immanent  {insita)  in  things,  and  the  law 
by  which  all  things  fulfil   their  course.     There  is  no 
abstract    that  subsists  in   logical   reason  but   not    in 
reality,  no  justice  by  which  things  are  just,  no  goodness 
through  which  they  are  good,  wisdom  through  which 
they  are  wise,  nor  are  deltas  and  feritas  the  ground  of 
existence  of  gods  and  beasts  :  nor  is  it  light  by  which 
shining    bodies    shine,   nor    shadow   by  which   foUy, 
darkness,  fictions,  nonsense   come    to  exist."        The 
student  of  nature  must  not  suppose  form  and  matter, 
light  and  colour  and  motion,  to  exist  separately  by 
themselves  because  they  may  be  conceived  or  defined 
by  themselves.     There  is  then  no  archetypal  world  to 
which  the  Creator  looked  in  fabricating  this  of  ours, 
but  nature    produces  all    things   from  within  itself, 
without    thought    or    hesitation.      "Study  to    know 
where  Nature  and  God  are,  for  there  are  the  causes  of 
things,  the  life  of  principles,  the  source  of  elements,  the 
seeds  of  the  things  that  are  to  be  brought  forth,  the 
typal  forms,  active  potency  producing  all  things,  .  .  . 
there  is  also  matter,  the  underlying   passive   potency, 
abiding,  present,  ever  coming  together  into  one  as  it 

1  Op,  Lat.  vol.  i.  pt.  a.  p.  310. 


A 


II 


PLURALITY  OF  WORLDS 


197 


were,  for  it  is  not  as  if  a  creator  came  from  on  high,  to 
give  it  order  and  form  from  without.  Matter  pours 
forth  all  things  from  its  own  lap.  Nature  itself  is  the 
inward  workman,  a  living  art,  a  wondrous  virtue  which 
is  endowed  with  mind,  giving  realisation  to  a  matter 
which  is  its  own,  not  foreign  to  itself ;  not  hesitating, 
but  producing  all  things  easily  out  of  itself,  as  fire 
shines  and  burns,  as  light  spreads  without  effort  through 
space.  .  .  .  Nature  is  not  so  miserably  endowed  as  to 
be  excelled  by  human  art,  which  is  directed  by  a  kind 
of  internal  sense,  while  several  kinds  of  animals,  guided 
by  their  inward  mind,  show  an  innate  foresight  of  a 
wonderful  kind, — ants  and  the  industrious  bees,  which 
have  no  type  or  model  spread  before  them.  For  there 
is  a  nature  which  is  more  than  present  to,  which  is 
immanent  in  things,  remote  from  none  as  none  is  remote 
from  being,  except  the  false  :  and  while  only  the  surface 
of  things  without  changes,  deeper  in  the  heart  of  all 
than  is  each  to  itself  it  lives,  the  principle  of  existence, 
source  of  all  forms,  .  .  .  Mind,  God,  Being,  One, 
Truth,  Fate,  Reason,  Order."  ^  Natura  naturata  is  thus 
not  a  resultant  or  outcome  of  natura  naturans  with 
Bruno ;  they  are  one  and  the  same  thing  under 
different  aspects,  and  both  are  one  with  God,  the  living 
force  in  things. 

The  arguments  of  Aristotle  against  the  plurality  of  Aristotle  on 
worlds  are  in  the  seventh  book  set  out  one  by  one,  and  tZulJ''^ 
controverted  from  Bruno's  own  standpoint,  at  times 
with  great  fulness  and  subtlety.  It  would  be  unprofit- 
able to  enter  far  into  this  debate,  where  the  advantage 
lay  so  obviously  on  one  side.  We  have  already  seen 
that  Bruno  was  able  to  lay  his  finger  upon  the  weak 
spot  in  Aristotle's  system,  the  definitions  of  space  and 

*  lb.,  ch.  X.  p.  312  ff. 


II 


II 


198 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


time.     There  is  no  absolute  norm  of  time,  said  Bruno, 
whether  arithmetical,  geometrical,  or  physical ;  for  in 
this  kind  we  cannot  fix  a  minimum,  and  least  of  ail  on 
Peripatetic  principles ;  there  is  always  a  less  than  any 
given  period  of  time,  hence  we  cannot  lay  down  any 
true  measure  of  time,  i.e.  all  time  is  relative  to  the 
individual.     In  any  case  the  daily  movement  (of  the 
outermost  sphere,  as  AristoUe  thought,  but  in  fact)  of 
the  earth,  is  not  reaUy  circular.     There  are  as  many 
moving  agents  as  there  are  stars,  as  there  are  souls,  or 
deities.'     But  "  if  we  must  assume  some  one  presiding 
over  the  infinite  number  of  agents,  we  must  ascend 
above  all  or  descend  down  to  the  centre  of  all,  to  the 
absolute  being,  present  above  all  and  within  all  .  .  . 
more  intimate  to  all  things  than  each  is  to  itself,  not 
more  distant  from  one  than  from  another,  for  it  is 
equaUy  the  nearest  to  all."  *     Several  of  the  arguments 
of  Aristotle  were  drawn  from  abstract  conceptions  of 
Perfection,  unity  and   perfection,  and  evidently  raised  interesting 
problems  for  the  time  of  Bruno.     They  are,  briefly, 
that  a  plurality  of  worlds  would  be  irrational,  since  no 
reason   could   be  given  for  one  number  rather   than 
another,  that  it  is  more  in  accordance  with  the  perfection 
of  the  monad,  that  aU  reality  should  be  massed  together 
in  one  world,  that  the  economy  of  nature  does  not 
admit  of  the  multiplication  of  goods,  that  the  passive 
capacity  (^matter)  is  not  equal  to  the  active  power  (the 
form),  that  the  perfect  is  by  its  very  nature  unique. 
Bruno  answers  that  there  is  no  definite,  but  an  infinite, 
number  of  worlds,  and  that  if  the  former  were  the  case 
no  reason  could  be  put  forward  why  there  should  be 
only  one,  which  in  Bruno's  sense  of  world  is  no  doubt 
true.     As  to  the  monad,  the  true  monad  is  that  which 

1  Of.  Of.  Lat.  i.  2.  p.  »59-  •  P-  »«»•    0°  ^"^  '^  '*^-  '^^  '*"*°" 


II 


PLURALITY  AND  PERFECTION       199 


I 


embraces  all  number  or  plurality  in  itself.  "  We  are 
not  compelled  to  define  a  number,  we  who  say  that 
there  is  an  infinite  number  of  worlds  ;  there  no  distinc- 
tion exists  of  odd  or  even,  since  these  are  differences  of 
number,  not  of  the  innumerable.  Nor  can  I  think 
there  have  ever  been  philosophers  who,  in  positing 
several  worlds,  did  not  posit  them  also  as  infinite  :  for 
would  not  reason,  which  demands  something  further 
beyond  this  sensible  world,  so  also  outside  of  and 
beyond  whatever  number  of  worlds  is  assumed,  assume 
again  another  and  another  ?  "  ^ 

That  there  are  more  worlds  than  one  is  due  to  the  one  life  in 
presence  everywhere  throughout  space  of  the  same  worlds. 
principle  of  life,  which  everywhere  has  the  same  effect  ; 
just  as  within  one  of  these  worlds,  the  earth,  we  find 
different  species  of  the  same  animal — of  man,  for 
example — which  cannot  be  descended  from  the  same 
parentage.  There  are  ^'  men  of  different  colours,  cave- 
men, mountain-pygmies,  the  guardians  of  minerals,  the 
giants  of  the  South,''  each  of  which  races  must  have 
been  produced  independently  in  its  own  place.  And 
finally,  although  it  is  true  that  nothing  can  be  added  to 
the  perfect,  why  may  not  the  perfect  be  multiplicable  } 
Though  the  perfect  man  is  one,  nature  may  produce 
several  within  the  same  species.  "  Everywhere  is  one 
soul,  one  spirit  of  the  world,  wholly  in  the  whole  and 
in  every  part  of  it,  as  we  find  in  our  lesser  world  also. 
This  soul  .  .  .  (should  the  kind  of  place  and  of 
element  not  conflict)  produces  all  things  everywhere  ; 
so  that  for  the  generation  of  some  even  time  is  not 
required.  .  .  .  The  infinite  universe,  and  it  only  under 
God,  is  perfect.  Nothing  finite  is  so  good  that  it 
could  not  be  better  ;  whatever  may  be  better  has  some 

1  op.  Lat.  i.  2.  p.  274. 


y 


.1 


(I 


l\ 


I\ 


200 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


II 


NATURE  OF  PERFECTION 


20 1 


f 


II 


degree  of  evH  and  defect,  as  what  is  not  absolutely 
bright  is  not  without  some  signs  of  obscurity.  .  .  . 
Therefore  the  perfect,  absolutely  and  in  itself,  is  one, 
infinite,  which  cannot  be  greater  or  better,  and  than 
which  nothing  can  be  greater  or  better.     This  is  one, 
everywhere,  the  only  God,  universal  nature,  of  which 
nothing  can  be  a  perfect  image  or  reflection,  but  the 
infinite.     Everything  finite  therefore  is  imperfect,  every 
^  sensible  worid  is  imperfect,  as  good  and  evil,  matter  and 
form,  light  and  darkness,  joy  and  sadness  concur  in  it, 
^  and  all  things  everywhere  are  in  alteration  and  move- 
Vment ;  but  aU  of  them,  in  the  infinite,  are  as  in  unity, 
truth,  and  goodness,  and  in  this  aspect  the  infinite  is 
rightly  called  the  universe."^     In  the  infinite,  as  we 
have  learned  from  the  Causa,  all  contraries  are  one. 
The  universe  is  perfect,  not  because  of  its  quantity, 
but  because  it  contains  all  other  things  in  it.^     Within 
the   limits   of    their   kind   small   causes   can   produce 
small  eflFects  with  some  perfection  ;  much  more  effective 
is  that  immeasurable  and  more  general  cause,  of  which 
nothing  stands  in  the  way.      It  is  a  harmony  of  the 
many  in  one,  the  only  corporeal  image  of  the  divine 
mind.      The   finite,  however,  is  imperfect  only  when 
taken  apart  from  the  whole  to  which  it  belongs,  i.e. 
evil  and  defect  are  appearances  only.      Although   in 
nature  not  all  things  are  of  their  best,  and  more  species 
than  one  produce  monstrosities,  yet  we  may  not  find  fault 
with  the  great  buQding  of  the  mighty  architect,  for 
even  the  small,  weak,  and  diminutive  contributes  its 
part  to  the  nobility  of  the  whole.     Is  a  picture  most 
beautiful  when  it  is  blazoned  all  over  with  gold  and 
purple  ?     Does  it  not  shine  out  best  from  a  dull  back- 
eround.?     Can  there  be  any  part  which,  in  its  order 


1  op.  Lat.  i.  2.  p.  307. 


«  P.  309  ff. 


and  place  within  the  whole  body,  is  not  good,  and  the 
best  in  the  end  and  in  the  whole  }  A  harmony  in 
music  is  better  the  greater  the  variety  within  it  of 
length,  accent,  pause,  and  the  like.^ 

The  perfect  may  be  either  ( i )  "  the  perfect  absolutely, 
or  (2)  the  perfect  in  its  kind."  The  former  again  is 
twofold,  according  as  it  is  (i)  "  that  which  is  wholly  in 
the  whole  and  in  every  part,  or  (2)  that  which  is  wholly 
in  the  whole  but  not  in  the  part."  Of  these  the  one  is 
divinity,  the  intellect  of  the  universe,  absolute  goodness 
and  truth,  the  other  the  immeasurable  corporeal  reflec- 
tion of  the  divine.  As  within  the  universe  there  are 
many  things  perfect  in  their  kind,  which  it  combines  in 
its  unity,  containing  in  itself  the  perfection  of  all,  it 
may  in  a  second  sense  be  called  the  absolutely  perfect. 
For  no  one  world  singly,  nor  system  of  worlds,  nor  any 
number  of  systems,  can  be  brought  into  comparison 
with  God,  except  indirectly,  through  the  immeasurable 
wisdom,  power,  and  goodness.  "  Nothing  is  absolutely 
imperfect  or  evil,  for  the  highest  nature  exists  in  a 
certain  sense  in  the  meanest  and  lowest,  as  on  the 
palette  of  a  painter  colours  are  thought  little  of  which 
presently,  unfolded  into  the  scheme  of  the  picture,  shall 
seem  to  be,  along  with  the  painter  himself,  of  chief 
importance."^  Moral  evil,  itself,  as  we  shall  find,  has 
no  reality  for  Bruno^s  pantheism.  Justice  and  goodness, 
not  existing  as  abstract  entities,  have  their  only  ground 
in  the  divine  will,  i.e.  in  the  course  of  nature.^  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  not  in  the  part,  the  detail,  the  trivial  or 
minute  existence,  that  the  divine  will  is  most  adequately 
declared,  but  in  the  whole,  its  plan  and  its  law.     "  What 

1  p.  311. 

^  p.  312.      Cf.  Fiorentino's  Teledo^  p.  85.      On  Perfection,  and  the  Perfection 
of  the  Universe,  cf.  Bruno's  Acrot.,  Arts.  17  and  51. 
^  Cf.  Spinoza. 


1 1 


202 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART  II 


is  best  and  most  glorious,  most  beseeming  the  goodness 
of  His  nature,  is  to  be  attributed  to  His  will.     It  is 
impious  to  seek  this  in  the  blood  of  insects,  in  the 
mummied  corpse,  in  the  foam  of  the  epileptic,  under 
the  shaking  feet  of  murderers,  or  in  the  melancholy 
mysteries  of  vile  necromancers  ;  ^   it  must  be  sought 
rather  in  the  inviolable,  intemerate  law  of  nature,  in 
the  religion  of  a  mind  directed  duly  by  that  law,  in 
the  splendour  of  the  sun,  in  the  beauty  of  the  things 
which  are  brought  forth  from  this  our  parent,  after  His 
true  image,  as  expressed  bodily  in  the  beauty  of  those 
innumerable  living  things,  which,  in  the  immeasurable 
sweep  of  the  one  heaven,  shine  and  live,  have  sense 
and   intelligence,    and    sing   praises   to   the   One,   the 
highest  and  best."  ^ 


*  Allusions  to  practices  of  the  Black  Art. 


«  Op.  Lat.  i.  2.  p.  316. 


CHAPTER   IV 


NATURE    AND    THE    LIVING    WORLDS 


We  have  found  that,  according  to  Bruno,  the  universe 
is  infinite  in  extent,  and  that  there  are  innumerable 
worlds  within  it :  it  remains  to  know  what  are  the 
materials  that  constitute  the  universe,  and  the  moving 
principles  that  govern  its  changes  and  direct  the  worlds 
in  their  courses. 

Nature,  he  said,  is  the  same  in  kind,  in  its  substance,  uniformity 
and  in  its  elements,  throughout  its  whole  extent — a  *" 
daring  conception  for  a  time  when  the  empyrean  and 
all  space  beyond  it  were  still  regarded  as  the  special 
abode  of  divinity.  He  reminded  his  opponents  of  his 
own  childish  experiences : — when  from  Cicala  he  looked 
towards  Mount  Vesuvius,  he  thought  it  dark,  gloomy, 
bare  of  trees  and  flowers  ;  but  when  he  approached  it, 
he  found  it  fairer  than  Cicala  itself,  while  now  the  latter 
looked  bare  and  dark.^  The  Aristotelians  were  com- 
mitting a  similar  error  in  judging  the  distant  stars  and 
the  firmament  to  be  in  reality  as  they  appeared  to  our 
eyes,  and  in  denying  the  existence  of  that  which  was 
not  visible  to  us.  "As  the  philosopher  must  not 
believe  what  cannot  be  demonstrated  by  evidence,  so 
neither  must  he  foolishly  despise  or  find  fault  with 
what   cannot  be  disproved  by  reason.'*^      Had  men. 


^  De  Immenso,  iii.  ch.vi.  (p.  313  ff.)- 


2  P.  317. 


203 


.»«J»' 


ft 


'  1 

I 


204 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


instead  of  bending  so  long  over  the  books  of  Aristotle 
and  his  commentators,  the  nebulosa  volumina,  but  turned 
their  eyes  to  the  book  and  light  of  nature,  they  would 
have  formed  a  far  different  conception  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  heavens  than  that  of  the  eight,  nine,  ten,  or 
more  spheres  and  innumerable  epicycles  of  the  Ptolemaic 
system.     Bruno  showed  how  as  we  rise  from  the  surface 
of  the  earth  our  horizon  becomes  wider,  while  in  detail 
less  vivid,  and  he  supposed  himself  to  continue  the 
ascension  upwards  to  the  surface  of  the  moon.^     A  few 
miles  away  tree  and  mountain  would  not  be  distinguish- 
able from  the  rest  of  the  earth,  but  we  should  perceive 
only  a  wide  circle  of  light  with  dark  spots,  the  appear- 
ance of  sea  and  of  land  respectively.     As  the  distance 
increased  the  form  of  the  earth  would  become  more 
visible  while  it  lost  all  appearance  of  opacity,  and  the 
whole  would  seem  continuous  light.     As  we  neared  the 
moon,  the  earth  would  come  to  appear  exacdy  as  the 
moon  does  to   us  from  the  earth.     The   moon  also 
revolves  round  its  own  axis,  and  from  it,  as  with  us, 
the  universe  will  appear  to  revolve  round  it  as  centre. 
It  had  been  said  that  the  appearance  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  had  always  been  and  continued  to  be  the  same, 
but  Bruno  points  to  the  fact  that  although  a  mountain, 
when  seen  from  at  hand,  changes  its  face  from  day  to 
day,  and  from  season  to  season,  yet  from  a  distance  it 
seems  always  the  same.«     It  is  owing  to  the  distance 
that  the  face  of  the  moon  appears  to  us  never  to  change, 
although  it  is  certainly  subject  to  as  many  alterations  as 
the  earth  itself ;  and  to  the  dwellers  on  the  moon  the 
earth  will  appear  equally  changeless.      The  light  and 
shadow  seen  on  the  surface  of  the  moon  are  due  to  the 
variety  of  sea  and  land  in  it,  the  one  reflectmg  hght. 


1  Bk.  iii.  ch.  2. 


»  Ch,  4.  p.  341  ff' 


II 


CEASELESS  CHANGE 


205 

the  other  absorbing.  On  the  moon,  as  on  the  earth, 
Nature  is  in  continuous  change :  for  example,  the  relative 
positions  of  sea  and  land  are  ever  altering ;  but  the 
magnitude  of  the  distance  renders  these  invisible,  and 
more  especially  the  minuteness  and  gradual  nature  of 
the  changes  themselves.  The  lunar  spectator  will  be 
presented  with  eclipses  of  the  earth,  and,  according  to 
the  position  of  sea  and  land,  i.e,  of  light  and  shadow, 
with  phases  of  the  earth.^  In  the  same  way  Bruno 
applied  his  principle  of  similarity  to  show  that  from 
distant  stars  the  earth  would  appear  of  uniform  magni- 
tude and  unvarying  position,  while  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  other  suns  it  and  all  the  other  planets  would  dis- 
appear. As  matter  is  the  same  in  kind  throughout  the 
universe,  so  it  is  subject  everywhere  to  the  same  law  of 
unceasing  change  : — "  The  sun  in  its  rising  never  seeks 
twice  the  same  point,  all  things  by  stress  of  the  con- 
tinuous flux  are  renewed,  nor  ever  seek  again  the 
haunts  they  have  left,  nor  is  there  any  part  of  the  earth 
which  does  not  pass  through  every  region,  and  a  like 
force  now  carries  each  part  in  one  direction  or  another, 
now  drives  it  away ;  and  if  by  chance  any  one  revisit 
the  centre,  it  is  no  longer  in  the  same  form,  nor  in  the 
same  connection  {ordine):"  ^  Not  even  the  whole  can 
ever  be  twice  the  same,  since  the  order  and  arrangement 
of  its  parts  are  continuously  changing.  Even  in  things 
that  seem  ever  to  present  the  same  face  there  is  a  latent 
alteration  which  time  will  bring  to  light.  There  would 
otherwise  be  nothing  to  prevent  the  whole  of  Nature 
being  fixed,  petrified,  as  it  were,  to  all  eternity.  Yet 
the  substance  of  things — the  atom — is  unchanging.* 
"  All  things  are  in  flow ;  the  parts  of  the  earth,  seas, 

1  So  Bruno  explained  the  phases  of  the  moon, 
a  Bk.  vi.  ch.  17.  p.  210.  3  ch.  i8.  p.  218. 


evMOi 


206 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


ii 


and  rivers  vary  their  positions,  by  a  certain  ebbing  and 
flowing  order  of  Nature.     As  matter  wanders,  flowing 
in  and  out,  now  here,  now  there,  so  the  forms  travel 
through   matter.     For  there  is  not  any  form  which, 
once  occupying  a  portion  of  matter,  retains  it  always, 
nor  any  matter  which,  once  obtaining  a  certain  form, 
maintains  it  for  ever.     Hence  it  is  that,  matter  always 
taking   up   one   form   or   another,   and   having   equal 
capacity  for  all,  consequently  by  virtue  of  its  eternity 
it  must  sometimes  fall  in  with  that  which  is  able  to 
bind  it  to  itself  for  ever ;  if  this  were  to  happen,  all 
things  would  be  so  constituted  that  there  would  be  no 
alteration  or  diflPerence  in  them."  ^  ^      .  ,       •  • 

The  Ether.        The   universe   to   Bruno   is   transfused  with  spirit, 
soul  or  life,  "  the  soul  of  the  universe,    which  ammates 
its  every  part.     "The  seat  or  place   of  God  is   the 
universe,  everywhere  the  whole  immeasurable  heaven, 
empty  space,  of  which  He  is  the  fulness."     The  material 
aspect,  or,  as  Bruno  sometimes  seems  to  say,  the  ^.^JJ 
of  this  spirit  is  the  ether,  a  subtle  fluid  distinguished 
from  the  air  we  breathe  by  the  absence  of  moisture. 
The  ether  is  a  purely  passive,  non-resisting  medium, 
permeating  the  universe,  without  quality,  and  unimpres- 
sionable  by  force  or  action ;   thus  it  is  penetrated  by 
the  heat  of  any  radiating  body  without  dimimshing  its 
force      It  took  the  place,  for  Bruno,  of  the  mythical 
Fifth  Essence,  which  had  so  long  fed  the  dreams  of 
philosophers—"  Divine  yet  corporeal,  material  yet  with- 
out matter,  a  form  without  privation,  conjoming  act 
with  potency,  neither  heavy  nor  light,  suffering  neither 
generation,  nor  corruption,  nor  alteration,  neither  increase 
nor  decrease ;   beyond  which  no  sensible  existence  is, 

1  lb.  p.  220.    If  the  flow  of  change  were  arrested  at  any  one  point  in  Nature,  it 
would  ultimately  be  arrested  throughout  the  whole. 


II 


THE  ETHER  :  MOISTURE 


207 


first-born  and  creatrix  of  Nature,  simplest  of  beings,  all- 
containing,  most  powerful,  most  active,  most  living, 
most  perfect  of  existences,  endowed  with  life  and 
intelligence,  of  its  own  nature  moving  circularly,  etc., 
etc. — all  this  is  at  length  proved  to  have  been  a  most 
portentous  shadow  without  body."  ^  Heaven  is  either 
empty  space,  or  it  is  an  ethereal  substance,  "a  very 
subtle  kind  of  air,  which  is  the  first  and  most  universal 
occupant  of  space."  ^  Again,  the  ether  is  described  as 
a  vapour  or  smoke,  a  nebulous  matter,  penetrating 
throughout  the  depths  of  the  void,  interpenetrating  all 
things  and  embracing  all ;  as  not  entering  into  move- 
ment of  its  own  accord,  for  it  is  but  an  exhalation  of 
the  wind — a  kind  of  continuous  vapour  such  as  is 
contained  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth  :  in  it  is  neither 
heat  nor  cold  nor  any  similar  effect  (passio),  but  it  is 
the  medium  through  which  these  are  borne.  All  these 
require  moisture  :  moisture  alone  can  "  fix "  light  or 
darkness  or  combine  atoms  into  a  concrete  body  and 
prevent  their  random  flight  through  the  air.^  It  has 
been  claimed  that  in  this  and  other  passages  Bruno 
anticipated  the  modern  theory  of  the  ether  ;  it  must  be 
noted,  however,  that  he  expressly  denies  to  its  parts 
any  kind  of  motion — it  is  only  the  composite  body 
which  moves — and  that  he  speaks  of  this  heaven  or 
ether  as  the  soul  which  is  at  once  immanent  in  and 
comprehends  the  stars,  i.e.  as  the  soul  of  the  universe. 

Of  the  strictly  material  elements  of  the  universe,  the  Moisture. 
most  important  is  moisture  or  water.  It  is  moisture 
which  gives  concreteness  and  therefore  weight  to 
things.  Nothing  has  weight  which  has  not  been 
formed  into  one  by  the  union  of  innumerable  parts 
under   the  action  of  water."*     Consistently  with   this, 

*  Bk.  iv.  ch.  1.  (0/>.  Lat,  i.  2.  p.  6).        ^  P.  7.        ^  P.  8.        *  p.  152. 


^r** 


208 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


tl 


NO  ELEMENTS  IN  ISOLATION        209 


■) 


Earth : 

Fire. 


Bruno  believed  the  heaviest  bodies,  as  the  metak,  to  be 
the  most  solid  and  concrete,  and  therefore  to  contain 
most  moisture.     It  is  moisture  also  which,  penetrating 
through  the  arteries,  veins,   and  bones  of  the  earth, 
gives  to  it  both  variety  of  aspect  and  the  power  of  life. 
The  visible  moisture  on  the  earth's  surface,  the  seas  and 
lakes,  is  a  mere  nothing  as  compared  to  that  which  is 
diffused   through  its  interior— is  but  the  sweat,  as  it 
were,  of  the  earth's  body.^     Bruno's  passion  for  homo- 
geneity led  him  to  understand  that  in  its  surface  the  land 
under  the  sea  is  similar  to  that  above  it,  with  which  the 
former  is  continually  changing  place,  and  it  is  divided 
up  into  plains,  mount^ns,  valleys,  the  islands  and  rocks  of 
the  sea  being  the  tops  of  the  mountains :— a  remarkable 
intuition  of  the  truth,  however  arrived  at.      As  to  the 
famUiar  elements,  earth  and  fire,  Bruno  could  neither 
allow  a  special  place  or  sphere  nor  a  special  direction 
of  movement  to  either,  as  in  the  Aristotelian  cosmology. 
The  earth  was  not  the  centre  of  the  universe,  and  there 
were   earths   or  similar   planets   everywhere.     To  the 
several  arguments  of  the  Peripatetics  ^  for  the  centrality 
of  the  earth,— from  the  heaviness,  the  darkness,  solidity, 
composite   character  of   the    earth's   matter,    and    the 
movements  of  its  parts,  from  the  idea  that  contraries 
shun   one   another    so   that   the   coldest   element,   for 
example,  should    be  in  the  centre,  the  hottest  at   the 
extreme, — Bruno  opposed   the  common-sense   answers 
that  his  own  theory  suggested  to  him.     His  appeal  was 
always   from   "fictitious   order"   to   the   evidence    of 
"  sense  and  reason."     The  argument  has  no  longer  any 
interest  in  itself,  and  to  pursue  it  into  detail   would 
hardly  be  edifying  ;  but  so  full  is  it,  so  weighty  and  so 
vigorous,  that  one  wonders  how  even  the  "  Peripatetics  " 

1  After  Empcdodes.  '  i>'  i""".  bk.  iii.  ch.  5. 


failed  to  be  convinced  by  it.  Bruno's  very  errors  are 
interesting.  Fire  for  example,  far  from  being  the 
outermost,  lightest,  subtlest  element,  was  regarded  by 
him  as  a  body  of  which  the  substance,  (light  and  heat 
being  accidents)  was  water  mixed  with  earth  ;  ^  and  in 
general,  he  maintained,  no  element  was  ever  found  in 
isolation.  As  to  the  supposed  coldness  of  the  central 
element, — the  earth, — he  believed,  again  anticipating 
future  discoveries,  that  the  centre  of  the  earth  was  not 
cold,  but  hot,  the  source  of  terrestrial  warmth  ;  but  the 
theory  loses  something  of  its  value,  scientifically,  from 
the  imagined  vitality  of  the  planet,  by  which  it  is 
supported.^  It  was  natural  that  the  coincidence  of 
contraries  should  be  brought  to  do  duty  against  the 
maxim  on  which  the  Aristotelian  view  was  really  based 
— namely,  that  contraries  tend  to  rest  at  the  greatest 
possible  distance  from  one  another,  against  which  Bruno 
marshalled  a  whole  army  of  facts.  Away  from  the 
shadow  of  the  earth  there  was  perhaps  no  light  but 
that  of  the  sun,  too  strong  for  our  eyes,  for  the 
daylight  arose  from  a  mixture  of  the  light  of  the 
sun  and  the  darkness  of  the  earth ;  we  could  see 
other  colours  by  it,  for  the  reason  that  they  were 
similarly  composed — mixtures  of  light  and  darkness. 
The  heat  of  the  sun  also  was  only  bearable  when 
tempered  by  the  coolness  of  the  earth  or  other 
planets.  The  body  of  the  earth,  great  as  it  is, 
can  bear  this  heat  only  through  its  swift  revolution. 
As  to  the  objection  that  if  the  earth  moved  we 
should  feel  its  motion,  Bruno  remarked  that  when 
we  are  carried  in  a  smoothly  and  continuously  moving 
vehicle,  not  striking  against  any  object,  we  do  not 
perceive  that  we  are  moving,  except  by  comparison  with 


*  op.  Lat.  i.  I.  p.  353. 


'  P.  354. 


if  I, 


i 


2IO 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


some  object  known  to  us  to  be  fixed.  Thus  sense 
furnishes  its  own  correction.^  The  difFerences  in  the 
distances  of  the  planets  from  the  sun,  as  seen  from  the 
earth,  are  explained  much  more  readily  by  the 
assumption  that  they  and  the  earth  itself  are  moving 
about  the  sun,  than  by  that  of  the  centrality  of  the 
earth,  which  compelled  astronomers  to  the  complicated 
device  of  the  epicycles.^  The  fact  that  the  moon 
always  turns  the  same  face  towards  the  earth  dis- 
proved the  Ptolemaic  theory :  were  it  on  an  epi- 
cycle, as  was  supposed,  this  would  be  impossible. 
According  to  the  old  doctrine,  the  earth  was  fixed 
immovably  in  the  centre  of  the  universe,  while 
about  it  circled  the  spheres  of  sun,  planets,  and  fixed 
stars.  With  Bruno,  on  the  other  hand,  the  centre  of 
the  universe  is  everywhere,  or  nowhere, — in  other  words 
it  is  relative  to  the  body  on  which  the  spectator  is 
supposed  to  stand.  • 

The  principle  of  continuous  change  was  employed 
to  explain,  among  other  matters,  the  variation  of  the 
equinoxes,  which  was  already  known  to  occur  ;  but  the 
continuous  change  was  itself  accounted  for  on  teleologi- 
cal  grounds. — **  The  motion  which  causes  the  poles  to 
tremble,  and  the  equinoctial  and  solstitial  points  to  vary 
irregularly,  is  on  account  of  the  variations  which  are 
always  taking  place  in  parts  of  the  earth  ;  for  the  frigid 
zones  may  not  always  be  frigid,  nor  the  torrid,  torrid  ; 
all  parts  must  rest  and  have  holiday  from  each  kind  of 
*  aflTect,'  and  consequently  take  up  every  kind  of  dis- 
position successively."  ..."  The  centre  of  the  earth, 
therefore,  and  its  position  relatively  to  the  poles,  will 

^  op.  Lot.  i.  I.  p.  329. 

2  The  saying  of  King  Alfonso  in  this  regard  is  worth  repetition, — that  "  had  he 
been  consulted  at  the  creation  of  the  world  he  would  have  spared  the  Maker  some 
absurdities.** 


li 


II 


THE  EARTH:  ITS  MOVEMENTS      211 


vary."  ^  No  star  ever  repeats  one  day  the  revolution 
of  the  previous,  or  any  one  year  that  of  another. 
Mathematical  exactness,  as  we  have  seen,  is  never 
found  in  the  material  world  :  the  earth  may  not  always 
present  the  same  face  to  the  sun,  so  that  one  pole  must 
at  length  pass  into  the  place  of  the  other — a  change 
which  must  occur  sensibly  and  continuously,  and 
irregularly,  as  natural  bodies  and  elements  of  bodies 
are  naturally  in  continuous  alteration  and  movement. 
"The  same  composite  body  is  never  in  exactly  the 
same  state  at  any  two  moments,  nor  consists  of  quite 
the  same  parts,  for  from  all  sides  and  everywhere  there 
is,  necessarily,  an  unceasing  influx  and  efflux  of 
elementary  bodies."^  The  stars  and  planets  are 
compared  to  a  flock  of  birds,  which  float  hither 
and  thither  in  the  clear  ether,  guided  only  by  their 
.desires.^  Never  does  the  flock  present  precisely  the 
same  appearance  twice.  In  nature  the  law  is  vicissitude 
and  succession,  so  that  each  thing  may  in  actual  fact 
come  to  be  all  things.* 

All  the  stars  consist  of  the  same  elements,  since  Earths  and 
water  cannot  subsist  without  earth,  nor  fire  without 
water ;  but  in  some  stars  the  aqueous  element  pre- 
dominates (planets),  in  others  the  igneous  (suns). 
From  sameness  of  appearance  and  of  effects  (^accidents) 
we  may  infer  sameness  of  substance.  It  is  clear 
therefore  to  Bruno  that  moon,  planets,  stars,  are  all 
of  precisely  the  same  substance  as  the  earth.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  point  out  by  how  long  a  period  this 

1  0/>.  Lat.  i.  I.  p.  360.  ^  P.  362»  c^'  *"/*''^- 

»  P.  369  (ch.  7)— 

"  Promptius  utque  magis  quavis  pcrnice  volucrum 
I       Versum  quaque  meent,  immensumque  aera  findant 
I       Intima  nempe  animae  vis  concitat  ilia,"  etc. 

*  P.  372. 


jttl»* 


:V<' 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


II 


COMETS 


213 


I 


I 


brilliant  philosophical  faith  preceded  the  slower  if  surer 
march  of  science.     The  great  worlds  of  the  universe 
are  of  two  kinds — the  suns,  in  which  fire  is  the  pre- 
dominating element,  and  from  which  light  is  difFused  ; 
and  the  earths  or  planets,  in  which  water  predominates 
,  and  which  reflects  light.     To   the  first   class   belong 
the  so-called  fixed  stars,  from  which  our  sun  would 
appear  no  larger  and  no  brighter  than  they  appear  to 
us;  to  the  second  belong  the  moon.  Mercury,  and 
other  planets,  all  in  one  and  the  same  ethereal  space, 
suspended  in  free  air  and  balanced  by  their  own  weight 
as  is  our  earth.     In  all  are  seas  and  woods,  rivers, 
men,  cattle,  reptiles,  birds,  fishes,  as  on  the  earth,  and 
in  all  the  same  continuous  changes  occur.^     No  one 
is  in  the  centre  of  the  universe  rather  than  another, 
for  about  all  equally  extends  immeasurable  space  with 
its  innumerable  stars.     Of  these  "first   bodies"  one 
kind  could  not  exist  without  the  other,  for  it  is  by  the 
concourse    of    contraries    and    opposites    that    nature 
provides   for   movement,  life,  and  growth   in    things. 
About  each  of  the  scintillating  stars,  or  suns,  which  we 
see,  there  must  circle  planets  which  are  for  the  most 
part  invisible  to  us,  but  which  may  become  visible.^ 
In  the  same  way,  both  on  account  of  the  smallness  of 
their  bodies,  and  especially  on  that  of  the  less  intensity 
of  reflected  light  in  comparison  with  light  of  original 
force,  the  planets  which  are  about  our  fixed  star,  the  | 
^  sun,  would  not  be  seen  from  any  of  the  others.     The  ' 
jdiscovcry  in  the  last  half- century  of  what  is  almost 
Icertainly   a   satellite   of   Sirius   confirms   in   this   also 
Cometsi  Bruno's  "  anticipation  of  nature."     Another  of  these 
was  his  theory  of  comets,'  which  he  held  to  be  of  the 

1  De  Imm.  bk.  i¥.  ch.  3.  ^  Ch.  8  (p.  42  f.). 

*  Ch.  4,  Schol.  cf.  bk.  iv.  ch.  13  {Of.  Lot.  i.  2.  67). 


same  nature  as  planets,  and  to  move  in  similar  orbits. 
He  believed  also  that  there  were  other  solar  planets 
which  never  appeared  to  us  because  their  position  in  the 
heavens  precluded  their  reflecting  any  of  the  sun's  rays 
to  us  : — a  belief  to  which  the  reported  eclipses  of  the 
sun  by  occult  bodies  has  given  some  support.     The 
shape   of  the   comet,  with  its   appendages,  was   only 
apparent,  Bruno  said,  and  was  due  to  the  angle  made 
by  the  light  reflected   from  its  surface.      In  another 
reference,  however,  he  compares  it  with  the  oblique 
reflection  of  light  from  a  mirror,  or  from  the  surface 
of  water  ;  it  is  the  watery  matter,  the  vapours  which  are 
drawn  out  by  the  warmth  of  the  sun,  that  give  the  un- 
usual reflection.^     This  shows  how  nearly  he  approached 
the  modern  theory.     In  the  true  spirit  of  the  Renais- 
sance, however,  he  appealed  to  the  authority  of  the 
ancients,  of  Aeschylus  and  Hipparchus  of  Chios,  who, 
according  to  Aristotle,  regarded  the  comets  as  planets.^ 
The  comets  of  the  sixteenth  century,'  so  far  as  observed, 
went  wholly  against  the  received  view  that  their  orbits 
must  lie  within  the  sphere  of  the  moon,  and  proved  that 
the  substance  of  bodies  beyond  that  sphere  was  the  same 
as  the  elementary  substance  of  the  earth,  as  well  as  that 
there  was  penetrable  space  beyond.     Both  of  these  to 
Bruno  were  important  consequences.    Still  greater,  how- 
ever, was  their  importance  for  humanity,  in  removing  the 
grounds  of  the  terror  which  comets  and  other  heavenly 
wonders  had  hitherto  inspired.     "  There  are  some,"  said 
Bruno,  "  who  rest  their  faith  in  a  virtue  above  and  beyond 
nature,  saying  that  God,  who  is  above  nature,  creates 
these  appearances  in  the  heavens  in  order  to  signify 
something  to  us  :  as  if  those  were  not  better,  nay  the 

»  De  Imm.  bk.  vi.  ch.  19.  *  Op.  Lat.  i.  2.  p.  230. 

»  1531,  1532,  1572,  1577,  1585.  (Bk.  V.  cht.9  and  13.) 


I,. 


I>  ' 


*  t .  - 


214 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


II 


very  best,  signs  of  divinity  which  arise  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  nature  ;  among  which  are  those  of  which  we 
speak,  for  they  also  are  not  apart  from  this  order, 
although  their  order  is  hidden  from  us." 

To  account  for  the  many  appearances  which  seemed 
to  conflict  with  his  new  view  of  the  universe,  Bruno 
had  recourse  to  several  slight  experiments  and  analogies 
of  dsuly  observation  such  as  a  schoolmaster  might 
employ  at  the  present  day  before  his  class,^  but  by 
which  even  a  man  of  Kepler's  intelligence  refused  then 
to  be  convinced  ;  at  least  he  would  not  openly  profess 
his  conviction.  Among  other  fruitful  suggestions 
which  Bruno  makes  is  that  the  sun  may  perhaps  turn 
on  its  own  axis,  and  again  that  it  may  contain  vapour 
and  earth.'  He  had  a  curious  theory  that  the  heat  of 
the  sun  is  only  directed  outward  from  the  surface^  not 
inwards ;  that  this  is  the  general  course  of  radiation  ; 
and  that  it  leaves  an  inner  surface  of  the  sun  cold, 
on  which  solar  animals  live ;  finally  that  meteors  are 
"  animals "  expelled  from  the  sun  !  So  always  the 
fruitful  idea  is  accompanied  by  the  absurd. 

From  the  principle  of  the  identity  of  nature  it 
follows  that  bodies  which  are  remote  from  us  are  the 
same  in  kind  with  those  that  are  with  us  and  near  us  ; 
nothing  may  be  denied  of  the  former  which  is  aflSrmed 
of  the  latter,  and  vice  versa.  There  can  be  no  doubt, 
therefore,  of  their  similar  composition  and  similar 
parts.  Thus  if  here  on  the  earth  we  nowhere  see  fire 
subsisting  without  earth,  nowhere  earth  without  water 
or  fire,  while  their  composites  are  both  contained  in 
and  penetrated  by  air  and  void,  then  the  same  is 
necessarily  the  case  in  the  upper  world  also  ;  neither 
sense  nor  reason  compels  us  to  assert  or  suspect  other- 

*  E^,  De  Imm.  bk.  iv.  ch.  5.  *  &*  ch.  7. 


II    IDENTITY  IN  KIND  OF  ALL  BEINGS  215 

wise.^  Bruno  has  grasped,  however  confusedly,  the 
idea  that  each  individual,  each  being  in  the  uni- 
verse, is  as  it  were  an  epitome  of  the  universe  itself ; 
that  each  therefore  stands  in  a  peculiar  relation  to  it, 
differing  from  it  only  in  the  "  proportion  "  in  which  the 
elements  are  composed  into  unity.  It  is  impossible  not  to 
see  in  this  idea  the  germ  of  the  most  important  develop- 
ment of  Leibniz'  philosophy,  whatever  the  source  may 
have  been  through  which  it  came  to  the  latter.  It  is 
true  that  here,  at  least,  Bruno's  conception  appears 
much  less  spiritual  than  that  of  his  successor,  inasmuch 
as  he  is  thinking  rather  of  the  actual  physical  elements 
which  go  to  make  up  a  body  (and  in  which  all  bodies 
are  similar  to  one  another).  On  the  other  hand,  the 
formation  of  the  body  is,  in  his  view,  the  work  of 
the  soul,  and  it  is  in  the  last  resort  the  identity  of  the 
universal  soul  of  nature  in  all  its  members  that  brings 
each  of  these  into  correspondence  with  all  others.  It 
is  true,  also,  that  Bruno  has  no  definite  explanation 
of  what  constitutes  an  individual,  and  his  readers  are 
exposed  to  the  dilemma  either  of  regarding  the 
physical  atoms  as  themselves  '*  beseelt^'' — a  view  which 
Bruno  nowhere  sanctions, — or,  on  the  other  hand,  of 
accepting  a  dualism  of  spirit  (the  soul  of  the  universe 
or  God)  and  matter  (the  material  atoms,  moisture,  fire, 
and  ether).  Yet  the  tenour  of  Bruno's,  philosophy  is 
wholly  opposed  to  such  a  dualism.  As  a  corollary  of 
this  theory,  Bruno  suggested  an  explanation  of  what  has 
been  called  "  spontaneous  generation,*'  supported,  how- 
ever, by  tales  of  the  credulous  rather  than  by  actual 
observation.  "  Dust  that  has  been  heated  by  the  sun, 
as  soon  as  moisture  falls  upon  it,  becomes  a  frog,  the 
whole  substance  of  dung  goes  into  worms  or  flies,  the 

1  De  Imm.  bk.  v.  ch.  z  (p.  1 19}. 


2l6 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


of  bodies  ; 
their  soul- 
principle. 


r 


» 


1 


body  of  a  Iiorse  will  turn  into  wasps,  the  provident  bee 
rises  from  the  body  of  an  ox  !  "  ^  As  each  thing  is  in 
its  inner  nature  identical  with  every  other,  so  it  may^ 
and  in  the  natural  course  does^  become  every  other,  as 
we  have  learned  from  the  Italian  works.  Nevertheless, 
the  outward  appearances  of  things  do  not  cease  to  be 
different  from  one  another.  "  That  is  more  latent  in 
one  subject  which  is  more  unfolded  in  the  remainder." 
"  The  subject  of  all  is  one  (monas),  and  all  things  are  in 
truth  one,  although  in  individuals  they  seem  to  be 
many." 
Movements  Thc  movcments  of  the  earth  and  of  other  free- 
moving  bodies  are  always  attributed  by  Bruno  to  an 
"  internal  principle  or  souV  Movement  from  without 
could  only  take  place  through  direct  contact,  and 
the  liquid  air  or  ether  is  too  light  to  move  these 
heavy  bodies.^  "  It  is  taking  things  by  the  wrong  end 
to  say  that  the  loadstone  attracts  the  iron,  the  amber 
the  straw,  the  sun  the  sunflower.  In  the  iron  there  is  a 
kind  of  sense,  awakened  by  a  spiritual  (i,e.  a  subtly 
material)  virtue  diffused  from  the  loadstone,  .  .  .  and 
generally  everything  that  desires  and  has  intelligence 
moves  towards  the  thing  desired,  converts  itself  into  it 
as  far  as  possible,  beginning  with  the  wish  to  be  in  the 
same  place."  By  the  same  principle  are  explained  the 
phenomena  of  gravity^  which  is  defined  as  impulse 
towards  the  place  of  preservation,  such  as  thc  earth  is 
to  the  stone  that  has  formed  part  of  it ;  its  opposite, 
"/<n;i^,"  is  impulse  away  from  the  contrary  or  the 
injurious.  "  Gravity  and  levity  are  nothing  but  thc 
impulse  of  parts  to  their  place,  where  they  may  cither 
move  or  be  at  rest,  or  to  a  place  through  which  it  is 
necessary  for  them  to  go  (in  the  circular  movement  of 

^  op,  Lat.  i.  2.  p.  147.  *  CatOt  Lag.  183.  3a 


II 


SOULS  OF  THE  STARS 


217 


all  material  things)."  Thus  the  motions  of  the  heavy 
and  the  light  are  merely  relative  movements  ;  the  same 
kind  of  motion  does  not  belong  always  to  the  same 
kind  of  substance  or  element.^ 

The  movement  of  the  stars  is  determined  not 
by  considerations  of  place  only,  but  also  by  the 
necessity  that  bodies  of  one  kind  are  under  of  deriving 
sustenance  from  those  of  another, — the  suns  from  the 
earths  and  the  earths  from  the  suns.  It  is  through  the 
soul  that  their  needs  are  felt,  and  the  soul  directs  their 
movements  as  does  the  human  soul  those  of  the  human 
body.  There  are,  however,  no  fixed  limits  to  their 
movements  :  they  are  governed  only  by  the  convenience 
of  life,  as  perceived  by  the  sense  and  mind,  which  are 
inborn  in  each.  By  this  fantastic  principle  Bruno 
explained  what  he  thought  to  be  the  fact,  that  all 
heavenly  bodies  whatsoever  are  in  movement ;  or 
perhaps  we  should  say  he  inferred  the  fact  from  the 
principle  : — which  was  first  in  the  order  of  his  thought 
it  would  be  impossible  to  know.  Like  most  of  his 
contemporaries  he  looked  upon  the  conception  of  a  soul 
in  all  things  with  peculiar  reverence — 

Porgimus  haec  paucis^  vulgus  procul  esto  prophanum^ 
Ne  liceat  laico  sacrum  conscendere  montem. 

The  method  by  which  Bruno  sought  to  know  the 
nature  of  the  souls  of  the  worlds  is  one  which  the 
course  of  modern  philosophy  has  rendered  familiar  to 
us  in  other  connections.  It  rests  upon  the  argument 
from  the  part  to  the  whole.  "  Whatever  we  find  in  a 
part  of  the  world  belongs,  in  a  higher  sense  {sublimius)^ 
to  the  whole,  and  must  be  attributed  to  it.     All  the 

^  Lag.  184.  35  J  Acrot.  Art.  68  ;  JnfinitOy  370.  29,  375.  6,  390.  34  i  Aerou  Art. 
80  (i.  I.  189),  etc. 


/ 


II 


I' 


ll 


♦! 


2l8 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


capacities  of  each  part  are  attributed  to  the  whole — that 
is,  their  perfections  and  activities,  not  the  qualities  they 
possess  as  parts,  and  as  less  than  the  whole  in  any 
respect."  Thus  the  hindrances  to  which  lesser  in- 
dividuals are  exposed,  the  necessity  of  taking  in  and 
giving  out  matter  as  their  forms  change,  exist  in  the 
greater  individual  in  a  minimal  degree.  But  in  all 
parts  of  the  earth  Bruno  found  signs  of  life,  sensation, 
and  even  intelligence.  Stones  of  different  kinds  were 
universally  believed  to  have  a  kind  of  sensibility  and 
instinct :  to  move  of  their  own  accord,  attract  other 
bodies  to  themselves,  act  upon  our  human  spirits  and 
senses.  The  phenomena  of  animal  instinct  were  a 
constant  object  of  interest  to  Bruno,  who  saw  in  them 
the  expression  of  a  deeper  intelligence  than  the  merely 
human.  It  is  true  the  observations  on  which  he  built 
may  not  always  have  been  exact ;  but  that  does  not 
detract  from  the  value  of  his  principle.  Thus  the 
porcupine  {istrix)  moved  his  admiration  because  of 
its  careful  storing  up  of  a  stock  of  darts  in  its  back, 
with  which  to  protect  its  life  ;  it  could,  with  unerring 
aim,  cast  one  at  its  enemy,  hearing,  it  is  said,  with  its 
skin  ;  and  its  precision  far  surpassed  all  that  the  cunning 
of  man,  with  his  many  instruments,  could  do.  With 
perfect  skill  it  threw  its  darts,  yet  sparingly,  so  that  no 
part  of  its  body  was  ever  defenceless,  the  spirit  directing 
all  its  actions  from  one  centre,  to  which,  from  every 
part  of  the  body,  report  was  made  !  "  With  how  much 
higher  reason  will  the  star  be  endowed,  of  the  body  of 
which  animals  are  made,  by  whose  spirit  they  flourish  .? 
So  the  earth  from  one  centre  directs  all  its  actions  and 
those  of  its  parts ;  it  never  errs,  neither  it  nor  any 
of  the  worlds  which  dwell  in  the  immeasurable  ether."* 

*  De  Imm.  bk.  ▼.  ch.  i. 


. 


in 


II 


INSTINCT  AND  INTELLIGENCE       219 


Bruno  rejected  *  the  popular  notion  that  the  behaviour 
of  ants,  spiders,  and  other  animals  does  not  spring  from 
their  proper  foresight  and  artifice,  but  from  divine, 
unerring  intelligence  acting  upon  them  from  without, 
giving  them  those  "  thrusts  "  (jpinte)  which  are  called 
"natural  instincts" — a  term  which  he  regarded  as 
meaningless.  "Is  this  *  natural  instinct'  sense  or 
intellect?  If  the  former,  is  it  internal  or  external? 
Clearly  it  is  not  external ;  but  if  internal,  where  is 
the  internal  sense  from  which  they  could  have  their 
foresight,  their  arts  and  artifices,  their  precautions, 
expeditions,  to  meet  various  conditions,  both  present 
and  future  ?  There  must  be  some  proximate  principle, 
i.e.  a  form  of  intelligence  peculiar  to  each  animal, 
which  determines  its  actions.  The  divine  and  universal 
intelligence  is  merely  the  principle  that  gives  it  intelli- 
gence, through  which  it  understands."  ^  The  action  of 
animals  of  a  given  kind  were  supposed  to  be  after  one 
perfect  model,  and  to  be  undeliberate.  Bruno  there- 
fore placed  their  intelligence  higher  than  that  of  man, 
nearer  the  level  of  that  of  the  world-souls.  "The 
swallow  makes  its  nest,  the  ants  their  cave,  the  spiders 
their  web  or  nets,  in  one  way  only,  than  which  they 
could  not  make  them  more  admirably  or  suitably.  .  .  . 
Who  knows  whether  the  spirit  of  man  is  rising  upwards, 
that  of  others  moving  downwards  ?  At  least  it  is  to 
be  referred  to  a  defect  of  light  and  divine  force  that 
men  hesitate  and  deliberate  in  all  that  belongs  to  the 
means  of  life,  the  modes  of  worship  and  defence,  for  if 
all  knew  perfectly,  all  would  be  governed  in  the  best, 
and  consequently  in  one  way  only."  It  is,  then,  on 
the  analogy  of  these  supposed  higher,  unerring  faculties 
of  animals  that  Bruno  considers  the  souls  of  the  worlds 


^  dna^  Lag.  185.  4. 


>  Cabala,  p.  587.  23  C 


f 


I' 


I 


I 


220 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


to  think  and  act.  They  have  perfect  freedom,  since 
their  life  and  soul  are  their  own,  not  borrowed,  as  ours. 
"Thus  as  we  breathe,  see,  sleep,  without  labour  or 
anxiety,  and  while  our  soul  performs  the  function  of 
life,  the  vital  humours  and  spirits  continually  circulate, 
so  these,  the  chief  members  of  the  world,  divine  animals, 
have  no  need  to  undergo  any  anxious  toil,  for  all  things 
with  them  are  done  for  the  best."  Their  fixed  aim  of 
life  defines  for  them  certain  determinate  orbits,  "  in 
which  they  move  freely  by  the  force  of  that  soul  which 
is  much  more  certainly  present  in  these  high,  perfect, 
divine  bodies  than  in  us,  of  more  ignoble  condition, 
who  draw  from  them  spirit  and  body,  come  forth  living 
out  of  their  bosom,  are  nourished  by  them,  and  at 
length  are  dissolved  and  received  back  into  them."  ^ 

It  is  to  the  internal  spirit  also  that  the  spherical  form 
of  the  worlds  is  due.  The  so-called  mountains  of  the 
earth  do  not  in  the  least  detract  from  its  spherical  form. 
Bruno  anticipated  modern  science  in  his  discovery  or 
intuition  that  the  real  mountains  are  not  those  we  are 
accustomed  to  call  such,  but  immense  tracts  of  country, 
— the  whole  of  France,  for  example.  "  I  find  the  whole 
country  of  France  to  be  one  mountain,  which  rises 
gradually  from  the  North  Sea  to  Auvergne,  where  is 
its  summit,  marked  on  the  west  by  the  Pyrenees,  where 
the  Garonne  flows,  on  the  east  by  the  Rhone,  on  the 
south  by  the  Mediterranean  Sea."  *  The  whole  earth 
is,  however,  as  smooth  in  reality  as  is  to  us  the  pumice 
stone,  which  to  the  ant  seems  furrowed  with  mountains 

^  On  movements  of  suns  and  earths,  as  determined  by  the  soul,  and  the  need  of 
mutual  sustenance,  cf.  ^crot.  Arts.  65,  66,  67,  72. 

*  Cf.  Cena,  Lag.  166.  32,  where  it  is  suggested  that  the  Alps  and  Pyrenees  once 
formed  the  summit  of  a  very  high  mountain,  gradually  broken  up,  through  con- 
tinuous geological  changes,  into  the  lesser  forms  we  now  call  mountains.  So  the 
whole  of  Britain  is  a  mountain,  rising  up  out  of  the  sea  ;  its  summit  is  the  highest 
point,  Scotland. 


n 


II 


DECAY  OF  WORLDS 


221 


and  valleys.  It  is  on  teleological  grounds  that  Bruno 
accounts  for  this  sphericity.  Composite  things  are 
preserved  through  the  harmony  and  union  of  their 
parts,  while  decay  arises  from  dissolution.  But  such 
harmony  and  union  are  best  secured  by  the  spherical 
form  :  towards  this  form,  then,  every  soul  aspires  in 
the  moulding  of  its  body.  The  most  perfect  animals, 
the  stars,  having  fewer  limitations,  have  the  greater 
advantages ;  being  almost  independent,  free,  self- 
sufficient,  they  are  most  closely  united  in  themselves, 
i.e,  tend  most  nearly  to  the  purely  spherical  form.^ 

However  perfect  they  are,  the  stars  are  yet  of  mortal 
stuff.  "  You  may  say  if  you  will  that  the  worlds  change 
and  decay  in  old  age,  or  that  the  earth  seems  to  grow 
grey  with  years,  and  that  all  the  great  animals  of  the 
universe  perish  like  the  small,  for  they  change,  decay, 
dissolve.  Matter,  weary  of  old  forms,  eagerly  snatches 
after  new,  for  it  desires  to  become  all  things,  and  to 
resemble,  as  far  as  may  be,  all  being."  The  efflux  and 
influx  of  atomic  matter  into  the  great  bodies  is  con- 
tinuous, and  this  is  the  only  kind  of  motion  which  is 
unceasing.^  '^  As  the  conflux  of  native  matter  is  greater, 
so  the  bodies  grow  more  and  more,  and  increase  up  to 
a  certain  limit,  on  touching  which  they  grow  weary  and 
become  subject  to  a  contrary  order  ;  as  about  the  seed 
atoms  are  gathered  and  added  continuously  until  the 
body  and  its  limbs  reach  their  maturity,  when  the  same 
parts  are  cast  out  from  the  centre,  and  the  breaking  up 
of  the  composite  is  presented  to  our  eyes."     Hence 

^  De  Imm.  bk.  iv.  ch.  18. 

*  Cf.  InfinitOj  Lag.  351.  30,  on  the  gradual  changes  of  the  earth's  surface,  which 
Bruno  infers  are  present,  although  imperceptible,  in  other  stars  also.  Cf.  ib.  332.  15, 
and  De  Imm.^  bks.  iv.  and  vi.j  Acrot.  Arts.  48  and  74.  In  Inf.  353.  30,  rocks, 
lakes,  rivers,  springs,  etc.,  are  compared  to  the  different  members  or  organs  of  the  • 
human  body  i  the  accidents  or  disturbances  of  them, — clouds,  rain,  snow,  etc., — to 
the  diseases  of  the  human  body. 


I 


« 


»•       I    I' 


^ 


111 


222 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART  II 


there  are  atoms  innumerable  roaming  through  the  void, 
while  infinite  changes  succeed  one  another  in  bodies. 
Those  in  one  region  receive  the  atoms  repulsed  from 
another  :  there  is  no  danger  of  their  straying  infinitely 
without  reaching  a  goal,  for  everywhere  are  great  bodies 
to  receive  what  is  expelled  fi-om  other  stars. 

Composite  as  the  worlds  are, — capable,  therefore,  of 
dissolution  and  destruction, — yet,  as  Timacus  had  sug- 
gested, the  power  and  providence  of  the  divine  purpose 
may  maintain  them  eternally  as  they  are. 


CHAPTER  V^ 

THE    LAST    AND    THE    LEAST    THINGS  :    ATOMS 

AND    SOUL-MONADS 

The  reaction  against  Aristotelianism  had,  as  one  of  its 
results,  a  renascence  of  the  atomic  theory  of  Democritus 
and  Lucretius ;  and  one  of  the  earliest  adherents  of 
the  renovated  doctrine  was  Bruno.  Although  a  com- 
plete presentation  of  the  theory  was  not  given  until 
his  later  works,  the  De  Minimo  and  the  Articuli  adv. 
Mathematicos^  appeared,  yet  already  in  the  Italian 
dialogues  there  were  frequent  references  to  it.  In 
the  Cena^  for  example,  it  is  said  that  in  the  physical 
division  of  a  finite  body  infinite  progress  is  impossible, 
and,  as  we  shall  afterwards  find,  in  Bruno  there  is  no 
distinction  between  physical  and  mathematical  divi- 
sion. Again,  in  the  Cena  an  animistic  atomism  is 
suggested,  which  presents  a  curious  anticipation  of 
some  of  Leibniz'  characteristic  views.  "It  is  more 
than  probable,  as  all  things  partake  of  life,  that  many 
or  innumerable  individuals  live  not  only  in  us,  but  in 
all  composite  things  ;  when  anything  "  dies,"  as  is  said, 
we  must  believe  it  to  be  not  death,  but  change  only ; 
the  accidental  composition  or  concord  ceases,  the  things 
that  enter  into  it  remaining  always  immortal ;  and  this 
is  truer  of  those  things  we  call  spiritual  than  of  those 


^  Acrotitmut:  De  Minimo, 


Lag.  p.  158. 


223 


s  . 


V 


M 


I 


224 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


we  call  corporeal  or  material."  ^  Thus  every  body  or 
organism,  for  all  bodies  are  organisms  to  Bruno,  is  itself 
constituted  by  other  living  beings,  the  atoms — living 
atoms — being  alike  the  origin  and  the  end  of  all.  So 
Leibniz  wrote  : — "  Every  living  body  has  a  presiding 
entelechy,  which  is  the  soul  in  the  animal ;  but  the 
members  of  this  living  body  are  full  of  other  living 
beings — plants,  animals, — each  of  which,  again,  has  its 
entelechy  or  presiding  soul."  ^  In  the  Injni^o  Bruno 
refers  to  the  continuous  changes  of  all  composite  bodies 
as  arising  from  the  ceaseless  flux  of  atoms  out  of  and 
into  each  body,  even  the  greater  "  animals,"  the  stars 
and  planets,  sending  out  particles,  which  wander 
through  the  universe  from  one  to  another.'  Again, 
when  discussing  the  four  elements,  he  ascribes  to  water 
the  power  of  holding  together  the  atoms  of  earth,  or 
"  the  dry."  "  If  from  the  earth  all  water  were  to  be 
removed,  so  that  there  remained  purely  dry  matter, 
this  remainder  would  necessarily  be  an  incoherent,  rare, 
loose  substance,  easy  to  be  dispersed  through  the  air, 
in  the  form  of  innumerable  discontinuous  bodies ;  for 
while  the  air  or  ether  makes  a  continuum,  that  which 
makes  a  coherent  continuum  is  water  or  moisture."  * 
These  indivisible  "  prime  bodies,"  of  which  the  worlds 
are  originally  composed,  are  spoken  of  as  flying 
throughout  space  from  world  to  world,  in  infinite 
movement,  entering  now  into  this,  now  into  that 
"  composition."  ^  Finally,  in  the  S^acciOy  we  are  re- 
minded that  '*  every  trifle,  however  worthless,  is  of 
value  in  the  order  of  the  whole,  the  universe,  for  great 
things  are  composed  of  little,  little  things  of  the  least, 

1  Lag.  164.  18.  •  MonaJoIogy,  §  70.     Of.  also  §§  64,  66,  67-69. 

»  Lag.  33a. 

*  Lag.  357.  10;  ct  334.  24,  359-  «3. 193-  5»  an**  ff^-  Fur-  738.  17. 

»  Lag.  367.  la,  375.  37. 


^\ 


II 


THE  ACROTISMUS 


225 


and  these  of  the  individuals  (or  indivisibles)  or  minima."  ^ 
In  its  main  outlines,  accordingly,  Bruno's  atomic  theory 
was  already  formed  in  his  mind  when  he  wrote  his 
earlier   philosophical   works,   and    even   some   of    his 
peculiar  applications  of  it  had  already  suggested  them- 
selves.     It  is  hardly  possible,  therefore,  to  find  any 
very  marked  development  in  this  regard  between  the 
London  and  the  Frankfort  periods.     There  is  elabora- 
tion and  completion  rather  than  development  in  any 
definite  direction  ;  ^  and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  writing 
of  the  larger  works,  containing  the  developed  system, 
was  projected  in  London,  and  even  carried  out  to  a 
certain  extent  before   Bruno  left   England.'      In   the 
AcroHsmus,  which  occupies  a  middle  place  between  the 
two  periods,  the  doctrine  is  equally  in  evidence,   in 
reference  both  to  the  atoms  and  to  the  continuous  ether 
in  which  they  move.    "  There  is  a  limit  to  the  division  of 
nature — an  indivisible  something ;  the  division  of  nature 
arrives  at  ultimate  minimal  parts,  unapproachable  by 
human  instruments.     Of  these  minimal  bodies  every 
sensible  body  is  composed,  and  such  a  body,  resolved 
into  its  minima,  can  retain  no  semblance  of  complexity ; 
for  these  are  the  first  bodies  out  of  which  all  others  are 
made,  and  which  are,  in  the  truest  sense,  the  matter  of 
all  things  that  have  corporeal  existence.     Resolved  into 
these  parts,  stone  has  no  look  of  stone,  flesh  of  flesh, 
bone  of  bone  ;  in  their  elements,  bone,  stone,  and  flesh 
do  not  difi^er,  but  only  when  formed  out  of  these,  com- 
pounded, compacted,  and  arranged  in  diverse  manners, 
do    flesh,  stone,   and   bone  and  other  things  become 
difierent  one  from  another."*     And  Bruno  describes 
how,  between  the  heavenly  bodies,  there  is  a  substance, 

*  Lag.  455.  37.  9  Contrast  Tocco,  Opere  Latine  di  G.B.,  part  5. 

»  Fiorentino's  Preface  to  Op.  Lat.  vol.  i.  p.  xxviii.         *  jicrot.  Cam.  Art.  42,  p.  154. 


226 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


,,'1.  (I 


i-i 


l\ 


I  1 


"  ingenerable  and  incorruptible,  the  immeasurable  air, 
a  kind  of  spiritual  body  '^— the  ether.^ 
Object  of  Its  foil  extension,  however,  the  theory  receives  in 

De  Minima,  ^^  jy^  Mifiimo,  whcre  the  atom,  or  corporeal  unity,  is 
not  the  sole  minimum  discussed.     The  foil  title  of  the 
work  is  :— "  On  the  threefold  minimum,  and  measure, 
being  the  principles  of  the  three  speculative  sciences  and 
of  many  practical  arts."     We  find  nowhere  any  distinct 
statement  as  to  what  Bruno  meant  by  the  "  threefold 
minimum,"  and  the  three  speculative  sciences  to  which 
its  several  members  refer.     It  was  supposed  that  the 
minima  were  (i)  the  monad  or  unity  which  is  the  unit 
of  number,  (2)  the  point,  which  is  the  unit  of  the  line, 
and  (3)  the  atom,  which  is  the  unit  of  body.     But 
arithmetic  and  geometry  can  hardly  be  called  specula- 
tive sciences,  and  Tocco  has  shown  that  Bruno  had  in 
I   view  the  triad  of  God,  the  soul  and  the  atom—th^  three 
I  i    kinds  of  simple  substance,  each  inunortal  and  inde- 
structible : — God  as  the  supreme  and  most  simple  unity, 
Monad  of^Monads ;  smUiS  that  which  lives  in  each 
composite  being  and  holds  in  unity  the  atoms  which 
from  time  to  time  enter  into  its  composition  ;  and  the 
aiom,  the  most  simple  of  material  substances,  in  the 
siiin  of  which,  with  their  containing  ether,  the  material 
universe  consists.      Had  Bruno  carried  out  his  sub- 
division of  the  speculative  sciences,  he  would  probably 
have  referred  God,  as  the  substance  of  all  reality,  to  a 
speculative  theology,  of  Neoplatonist  type  ;  soul  as  the 
simple   substance   of    animate   beings   to   metaphysics 
proper ;  and  the  atoms,  the  substance  of  body,  to  a 
speculative  physics,  dealing  with  the  metaphysical  pre- 
suppositions of  the  general  theory  of  nature,  which  was 
set  forth  in  the  De  Immenso.     The  scheme,  however, 

1  jimi.  Cam  Art  65. 


I 


II 


THE  THREE  «  MINIMA  " 


227 


was  never  fully  carried  out,^  the  times  being  not  yet 
ripe  for  the  complete  separation  of  the  speculative  and 
the  experimental  or  observational  sciences.    In  referring 
the  atomic  theory  to  metaphysics,  Bruno  showed  a  true  Atomism 
instinct,  for  while  in  one  sense  atomism  is  a  scientific  ph^s'ca'i 
hypothesis  capable  of  furnishing  laws  which  explain  the  '^°'^""'* 
interaction  of  bodies, — the  corpuscular  theory, — and  as 
such  has  proved  its  value  by  the  brilliant  developments 
of  recent  years,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  also  a  presup- 
position of  knowledge,  a  ground  of  the  possibility  of 
our  knowledge  of  body,  and  therefore  has  its  place  in 
speculative  theory,  or  metaphysics,  in  the  widest  sense. 
Both  points  of  view  are  presented  in  Bruno's  doctrine, 
but  that  from  which  he  starts  is  the  epistemological, 
following  in  this  the  guidance  of  Nicholas  of  Cusa. 

Knowledge  is  measurement,  and  all  measure  implies  Knowledge 
a  minimum  in  each  kind  of  being.     Were  it  possible  to  iTom"  '^' 
subdivide   anything   ad  infinitum,  the   half  would  be 
potentially  equal  to  the  whole,  and  measurement  frus- 
trated.    There  must  be  a  limit  to  division,  an  ultimate 
part,  which  itself  has  no  parts,  and  which  is  the  sub- 
stance of  the  composition  into  which  it  enters,  the  com- 
position on  the  other  hand  being  an  '''accident''  of  this 
minimum.     As  it  is  primarily  a  condition  of  measure- 
ment, the  minimum  differs  in  the  different  spheres  of  Relativity 
measure    or    knowledge    to    which    the    category    of  mum!"'" 
quantity  applies.     In  magnitudes  of  one  or  two  dimen- 
sions it  is  the  point,  in  bodies  the  atom,  in  numbers  the 
monad  or   unity.      Thus  number  is   accident  of  the 
monad,  monad  is  the  essence  of  number,  as  composition 
is  accident  of  the  atom,  atom  is  essence  of  the  com- 
posite.    Again,  the  "  sensible  minimum  "  must  be  far 
greater  than  the  natural  or  real  minimum,  for  in  so  far 

1  Vide  De  Mitt.  p.  211  (bk.  ii.  ch.  6). 


r/ 


* 


M     I  If 


;• 


228 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


as  minimum  is  qualified  by  sensible,  it  is  implied  that 
the  minimum  is  not  absolutely  such,  but  is  a  composite. 
The  minimum  of  taste,  touch,  etc.,  must  possess  certain 
qualities,  by  which  it  has  relation  to  sense,  and  these 
can  derive  only  from  some  form  of  composition.  In 
their  primary  form  the  minima  of  nature  must  be 
without  difference  ;  therefore  that  some  are  sensible, 
others   not,   must   be   due   to   some   addition   in   the 

former.* 

Thus  each  species  of  existence,  as  light,  moisture, 

vital  force,^  has  its  own  minimum,  and  the  minimum  is 
relative  in  this  sense  also,  that  there  are  different  kinds 
of  existence  not  resolvable  one  into  another  :  the  abso- 
lute minimum  would  be  God,  who  is  also  the  absolute 
maximum.      The    relative    minimum,   accordingly,   is 
determined  either  by  the  thought  and  design  of  the 
observer,  or  by  the  species  of  existence  to  which  the 
subject  belongs ;  nature  has  set  limits,  both  lower  and 
upper,  within  which  the  individual  of  any  species  must 
stay,  or  cease  to  belong  to  that  species.     Accordingly, 
what  one  regards  as  great  and  composite,  another  may 
take  as  first  and  minimum :  the  unit  of  one  science  may 
be  analysed  in  another  into  further  elements.     "  Pyth- 
agoras in  his  philosophy  started  with  the  monad  and 
nmnbers ;  Plato  with  atoms,  lines  and  surfaces  ;  Empe- 
docles  with  the  four  elements ;  the  physicians  with  the 
four  humours,  and  so  on ;  but  the  Pythagorean  monad  is 
prior  to  the  placed  monad  (the  atom),  Plato's  matter  of 
bodies  to  the  qualified  bodies  of  Empedocles,  the  four 
simple  bodies  of  Empedocles  to  the  four  first  combina- 
tions of  these,  the  four  humours.     So  to  the  universe 
the  whole  solar  system,  the  sun  and  all  its  planets,  may 
be  a  simple  unit."' 


1  De  Mm,  bk.  i.  ch.  9. 


a  16.  ScAoI,  (p.  170). 


»  Ch.  10. 


II 


PRINCIPLES  OF  KNOWLEDGE        229 


Here  Bruno  suggests  two  principles  for  the  classifi- 
cation and  systematising  of  the  sciences,  to  which  it 
would  have  been  well  had  he  himself  and  his  successors 
faithfully  adhered.  The  one  is,  that  the  modes  of 
measurement,  i.e.  the  methods  and  laws  of  the  sciences, 
must  differ  for  the  difi^erent  kinds  of  existence  studied: 
that  a  biological  law,  for  example,  cannot  be  adopted 
as  an  explanation  of  mental  phenomena,  nor  the  atomic 
theory  account  for  the  phenomena  of  life.  On  the 
other  hand  there  are  orders  of  existence,  according  to 
the  complexity  of  the  subjects  involved.  If  we  regard 
the  science  which  deals  with  the  more  concrete  subject 
as  "  higher,"  then  each  higher  science  (^e.g,  psychology) 
must  take  for  granted  the  principles  and  results  of  each 
lower  science  (biology,  physics,  mathematics), — each 
must  adopt  and  retain  a  unit  for  itself,  which  it  has  not 
further  to  analyse. 

In  the  same  way  the  minima  offer  a  ground  for  the  The 
distinction   of  the    more   abstract   sciences   one    from  iiTth^e"* 
another.    The  term  "  individual  nature  "  (atoma  natura)  t/^riff"' 
may,  according  to  Bruno,  have  one  of  several  uses.     It  sciences. 
may  be  applied  either  "  negatively  or  privatively,  and  if 
negatively,  then  either   accidentally  or   substantially." 
His  instance  of  the  accidental  use  is  a  voice  or  sound, 
which  expands  spherically,  is  wholly  wherever  it  is,  i.e. 
the  full  content  of  the  sound  is  heard,  wherever  its  in- 
fluence extends,  not  a  part  here,  a  part  there,  although 
the  intensity  may  vary  in  degree.     Of  the  substantial 
use  examples  are  the  spirit,  which  is  wholly  in  the  whole 
body  of  man,  or  that  spirit  which  is  in  the  whole  extent  of 
the  life  of  the  earth,  by  whose  life  we  live  and  in  which 
we  have  our  being,  or,  above  this  substantial  nature  or 
individual  soul,  that  of  the  universe,  and  supreme  above 
all,  the  mind  of  minds,  God,  one  spirit  completely  filling 


W 


ra 


/: 


Minimum 
M  sub- 
•tance. 


230 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


all  things.^  The  atom-nature  is  privathely  so-called, 
when  it  is  the  element  and  substance  of  a  magnitude  which 
is  the  same  in  kind  with  it,  and  may  be  reduced  to  it,  and 
it  is  distinguished  from  the  atom  negatively  so-called, 
because  it  is  not  divisible,  either  in  genus  or  in  species, 
cither  pr  se  or  per  accidens.  Examples  are,  (i)  in  dis- 
crete quantities  : — unity  to  the  mathematician,  the  uni- 
versal proposition  to  the  logician,  the  syllable  to  the 
grammarian  ;  and  (2)  in  continuous  quantities,  varying 
with  the  species  of  continuum: — the  minimal  pain, 
sweetness,  colour,  light,  triangle,  circle,  straight  line, 
curve  ;  in  duration,  the  instant ;  in  place,  the  minimal 
space  ;  in  length  and  breadth,  the  point ;  in  body,  the 
least  and  first  body. 

In  the  second  place,  the  atom  or  minimum  is  also  a 
metaphysical  irov  o-tw  ;  not  only  is  it  the  last  result  of 
analysis,  but  it  is  also  the  permanent  substance  of  being, 
and  again  it  contains  all  being  in  itself — it  is  essence  of 
being.  Thus  such  an  individual  nature  "  never  comes 
into  existence  by  way  of  generation,  nor  passes  out  of 
it  by  way  of  corruption  or  dissolution ;  only  per  accidens 
may  we  say  that  it  now  is,  now  is  not."  ^  Certain  of 
them,  however,  the  souls,  deities,  God,  are  in  their  intrinsic 
nature  eternal,  immortal,  indissoluble.  Of  these  it  was 
Bruno's  intention  to  treat  at  large  in  a  Metaphysics  and 
a  De  Anima  which  he  purposed  to  write  "  if  God  granted 
him  time."  *     Unfortunately,  it  was  willed  otherwise. 

Nothing  that  becomes,  changes,  decays,  is  real 
{ehy  It  is  by  meditating  on  this  perpetual  unity  of 
nature,  by  conforming  ourselves,  and  preserving 
ourselves  in  likeness  to  it,  that  we  come  to  partake 
in  the  life   of  the   gods,    and   to   deserve   the   name 

*  op.  hat.  i.  3.  p.  209.  '  This  thought  recurs  in  Leibniz. 

'  Op.  Lat.  I.  3.  pp.  209.211. 


II  THE  "MINIMUM"  INDESTRUCTIBLE  231 

of  substance.  That  which  time,  movement,  fate  bring 
to  us  is  nought ;  for  while  they  are,  they  are  not. 
"  Let  us  then,"  cries  Bruno,  "  supply  the  mind  with 
material,  in  the  contemplation  of  the  minimum^  through 
which  it  may  exalt  itself  to  the  maximum,^'  ^  Since  the 
real  minimum,  whether  atom  or  soul,  is  immortal  and 
indestructible,  we  know,  as  Pythagoras  saw,  that  there 
is  no  death,  but  only  transition  ;  death  is  a  dissolution 
which  can  occur  only  to  the  composite,  for  the  com- 
posite is  never  substancCy  but  is  always  adventitious. 
Otherwise  we  should  be  changing  our  substance  every 
moment  with  the  continuous  influx  of  atoms  into  our 
bodies.  Only  by  the  individual  substance  of  the  soul 
are  we  that  which  we  are  ;  about  it  as  a  centre,  which 
is  everywhere  in  its  whole  being  {ubique  totum),  the  dis- 
gregation  and  aggregation  of  atoms  takes  place. 
According  to  a  law  of  the  soul-world,  all  bodies  and 
forces  tend  to  the  spherical  form  ;  God,  as  monad  of 
monads,  is  the  perfect  or  infinite  sphere,  of  which  the 
centre  is  at  once  nowhere  and  everywhere  ;  and  in  Him 
(as  in  all  minima,  simple  substances,  monads)  all  oppo- 
sites  coincide,  the  many  and  the  few,  finite  and  infinite ; 
therefore  that  which  is  minimum  is  also  maximum^  or 
anything  between  these,  each  is  all  things,  the  greatest 
and  the  whole.^  Therefore,  if  contemplation  is  to 
follow  in  the  footsteps  of  nature,  it  must  begin,  con- 
tinue, and  end  with  the  minimum?  In  other  words,  the 
minimum  in  each  sphere  of  being  contains  implicitly  in 
itself  the  whole  reality  of  that  sphere.  The  minimum  is 
its  substance,  not  merely  the  ultimate  of  analysis,  but 
the  actual  source,  the  dynamic  origin  of  reality,  as  God 
is  implicitly  the  whole  universe  and  also  the  source  of 
the  universe  as  it  actually   exists.     It   is   because  the 

1  op.  Lot.  i.  3.  p.  208.  •  P.  147.  I.  •  P.  149.  3. 


( 


I 


i  A 


i'i! 


M 


t-»   -    ^  ---^-^'■-—  -■ 


r 


232 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Uniqueness 

ofaU 

things. 


( 


i 


Sense  and 


■  1 


f    1 


minimum  is  all  reality,  is  the  maximum^  that  the  know- 
ledge of  it  gives  us  that  of  the  whole. 

In  the  third  place  the  atomic  theory  offers  an 
explanation  of  the  uniqueness  of  each  natural  existence, 
which  Bruno's  philosophical  theory  already  assumed. 
The  ever  moving  atoms  present  a  mechanism  by  which 
the  infinite  diversity  and  infinite  succession  of  change 
in  things  may  be  brought  about.  The  appearance  of 
similarity,  exactness,  etc.,  is,  as  we  have  found,  an 
illusion.  Mathematically  exact  figures  or  bodies — a 
true  circle,  for  example  —  are  unattainable  by  sense, 
even  if  they  exist  in  nature  ;  but  they  do  not  exist  in 
nature.     Sense  is  the  primary  faculty,  through  which 

knowledge,  ^j^^  material  of  all  others  must  pass,  so  that  what  has 
not  entered  through  that  window  of  the  soul  cannot 
be  known  at  all.  But  a  single  point  out  of  place  on 
the  circumference  of  a  circle  makes  it  cease  to  be  a 
true  circle,  and  our  sense-apprehension  is  necessarily 
so  confused  and  indistinct  that  we  cannot  distinguish 
between  the  true  and  the  false,  where  truth  depends 
upon  so  inappreciable  a  difference.     Moreover  sense- 

Relativity,  knowlcdgc  is  relative  to  the  knowing  subject,  or  to 
the  subject's  position  with  regard  to  the  object.  What 
to  the  eye  of  one  is  too  large  is  to  another  too  small ; 
a  sound  which  is  pleasant  to  one  ear  is  not  so  to 
another  ;  the  food  which  to  the  hungry  man  tastes 
sweet,  to  the  full  man  is  nauseous  ;  the  ape  to  the  ape 
is  beautifiil,  but  to  the  man  is  of  laughter-inspiring 
ugliness.  Hence  the  circumspect  will  not  say  "  this 
has  a  good  odour,  taste,  sound,  this  has  a  beautiful 
appearance,"  but  will  add  "  to  me,"  "  now,"  "  some- 
times." Nothing  is  good  or  evil,  pleasant^or  painful, 
beautiful  or  ugly,  simply  and  absolutely ;  but  the  same 
objects  in  relation  to  individual  subjects  receive  from 


II  RELATIVITY  OF  KNOWLEDGE       233 

the   senses   contrary   denominations,    as   they   in   fact 

produce  contrary  eflFiects.     In  deciding  what  is  to  be 

called  good  or  bad,  honourable   or  base,   nature  and 

custom  have  been  the  chief  agents,  and  alterations  have 

issued  from   the    slow   rise   and    victory   of  different 

opinions.     Among  the  Druids  and  Magi  certain  things 

were  performed  publicly  at  sacrifices  which  now,  even 

when  committed  in  privacy,  are  regarded  as  execrable, 

and  are  so  by  way  of  law,  and  in  the  present  condition 

of  affairs.     Philosophy,  as  it  teaches  to  abstract  from 

particulars,  to  bring  the  nature  and  condition  of  things 

as  far  as  possible  under  an  absolute  judgment,  must 

define  differently  the  useful  and  good  in  an  absolute 

sense,   from  the  useful'  and  good  as  contracted  to  the 

human   species.      Objectively   there   is    no    definitely 

good   or   definitely  evil,  definitely  true   or   definitely 

false,  so  that  from  one  point  of  view  we  may  say  that 

all  things  are  good  ;  from  another  that  all  things  are 

evil ;    from  a  third  that  nothing  is  good   or  evil,  as 

neither  of  the  contraries  is  true  ;  from  a  fourth  that 

all   things   are   both   good   and   evil,  as   each  of  the 

contraries  is  true.      No  sense  deceives  or  is  deceived  : 

each  judges  of  its  proper  object  according  to  its  own 

measure.     There   is   no  higher  tribunal    to  which  to 

refer  its  object,  nor  can  reason  judge  of  colour  any 

more  than  can  the  ear ;  sensible  truth  does  not  follow 

any    general    or    universal    rule,    but    one    which    is 

particular,  mutable,  and  variable.     In  the  working  of 

an  external  sense  there  may  be  different  degrees   of 

perfection  or  defect,  but  not  of  truth  or  falsity,  which 

consist  in  the  reference  of  the  subject  and  predicate 

to  one  another.     The  faculty  by  which  we  judge  this 

or  that  to  be  true  colour  or  light,  and  distinguish  from 

apparent  colour  or  light,  is  not  in  the  eye.     To  affirm 


k 


1  :^ 


I  ^1 


2J4 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


I 
I 


upon 
sensation. 


i 


1/ 


that  man  is  an  animal,  we  must  know  both  man  and 
animal,  know  that  animal  nature  is  in  man,  and  other 
things  which,  as  means  or  circumstances,  concur  directly 
or  indirectly  in  this  knowledge.  External  sense  can 
apprehend  only  one  species  or  image  of  the  object; 
from  the  colour  and  figure  to  pass  to  its  name,  its 
truth,  its  difference  from  other  objects,  belongs  to  a 
fiidgment  more  inward  faculty.  Yet  the  latter  is  always  based 
^^^  upon  sense ; — ^a  deaf  man  can  neither  imagine  nor  dream 
of  sounds  which  he  has  never  heard,  nor  a  blind  man 
of  colours  and  figures  which  he  has  never  seen.^  This 
digression  on  the  relativity  of  knowledge,  and  on  the 
different  functions  of  sense  and  reason,  in  which  Bruno 
follows  partly  the  teaching  of  Lucretius,  partly  the 
Peripatetic  doctrine  of  knowledge,  shows  that  even  if 
a  true  or  perfectly  exact  geometrical  figure  existed  in 
nature,  none  of  the  faculties  with  which  we  are  endowed 
could  apprehend  it,  since  it  is  not  given  by  external 
sense.2 

But  in  the  second  place  ^  reason  tells  us  that  no 
true  circle,  or  other  figure,  is  possible  in  nature  :  for 
there  is  in  nature  no  similarity  except  in  the  atoms  ;, 
a  true  circle  would  imply  the  equality  of  all  lines  from 
the  centre,  but  no  two  lines  in  nature  are  entirely  and 
in  all  respects  equal  to  one  another.  The  circle  or 
part  of  a  circle  which  appears  most  perfect  to  us — ^the 
rainbow — is  an  illusion  of  the  senses,  due  to  the 
reflection  of  the  light  of  the  sun  from  the  clouds  ;  so 
the  circles  made  by  a  stone  falling  into  water  cannot  be 
perfect,  for  this  would  mean  that  the  stone  itself  is 
perfectly  spherical,  that  the  water  is  everywhere  of  the 
same  density,  that  no  wind  is  playing  upon  its  sur- 
face.    Sound  is  not  equally  diffused  owing  to  differ- 


No  exact- 
ness or 
similarity 
in  com- 
posites. 


^  De  Min.  blc  ii.  ch.  3,  pp.  191  AT. 


«  P.  195.  20. 


»  Ch.4. 


II 


ALL  EXISTENCES  DIFFER 


ns 


ences  in  the  density  and  rarity  of  the  air,  nor  is  the 
horizon  ever  a  perfect  circle,  owing  to  differences  of 
clearness  in  diflferent  directions.  Object  and  faculty 
alike  are  in  continuous  change ;  all  natural  things  are 
continually  altering  their  form  or  changing  their 
position  ;  therefore  although  they  seem  to  sense  to 
remain  fixed  for  a  time,  we  know  that  this  is  impossible, 
from  the  nature  of  things.^  Whatsoever  falls  in  the 
scope  of  sense-perception,  even  the  distant  sphere 
and  stars,  we  judge  to  consist  of  the  same  elements, 
therefore  to  be  subject  equally  to  perpetual  variability 
and  vicissitude.  Thus — the  atoms  alone  being  simple, 
and  remaining  ever  the  same — no  composite  thing  can  be 
the  same  for  one  moment  even,  as  each  is  being  altered 
continually  in  all  parts  and  on  all  sides  by  the  efflux 
and  influx  of  innumerable  atoms.^  "  Hence  nothing  is 
perfectly  straight,  nothing  perfectly  circular  among 
composites,  nothing  absolutely  solid  but  the  atoms, 
nothing  absolutely  void  but  the  spaces  between  them." 
The  facet  of  a  diamond  appears  to  be  a  perfect  plane, 
perfectly  compact,  yet  in  reality  it  is  rough  and  porous.^ 
In  matter  no  two  lines  or  figures  are  entirely  equal, 
nor  can  the  same  figure  be  repeated  twice.*  No  man 
is  twice  of  the  same  weight,  the  very  instruments  by 
which  we  measure  and  weigh  things  are  themselves  in 
constant  change,  and  the  flux  of  atoms  is  never  equal, 
but  now  denser,  now  rarer.  In  general  no  two  things 
are  of  the  same  weight,  length,  sound,  or  number,  nor 
are  two  motions  or  parts  of  motion  ever  the  same. 
To  say  that  ten  trees  are  equal  to  ten  others  is  to  speak 
merely  from  a  logical  point  of  view,  for  in  fact  each 
is  one  in  a  peculiar  and  special  sense.^     ''Equality  is 

^  op,  Lat,   i.  3.  p.  199.  15.      ^  P.  200.  20.      '  P.  20O.  28,  201.  4  ;  cf.  223.  11. 
*  De  Min.  bk.  ii.  ch.  5.  *  P.  203.  27. 


I  H 


I    ( 


1 1 


236 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


I 


X     » 


■1 


only  in  those  things  which  are  permanent  and  the  same; 
changing  bodies  are  unequal  to  themselves  at  any  two 
instants/'^  "Nothing  variable  or  composite  consists 
at  two  moments  of  time  wholly  of  the  same  parts 
and  the  same  order  of  parts,  since  the  efflux  and  influx 
of  atoms  is  continuous,  and  therefore  not  even  from 
the  primary  integrating  parts  will  you  be  able  to  name 
a  thing  as  the  same  twice."  * 

Number  itself  is  not  an  absolute,  but  a  relative 
determination  :  it  does  not  touch  the  nature  of  the 
thing  itself.  Nature  has  no  difference  of  number,  as 
we  have,  of  odd  and  even,  tens  and  hundreds  ;  nor 
do  the  gods,  spirits,  or  other  rational  beings  define  the 
numbers  and  measures  of  objects  by  the  same  series  of 
terms.  Both  numbers  and  the  methods  of  numbering  are 
as  diverse  as  are  the  fingers,  heads,  and  mental  equip- 
ment of  the  numberers.  That  which  fits  in  with  the 
numbers  of  nature  will  therefore  never  fit  in  with  our 
numbers.  Thus  ten  horses  and  ten  men,  although 
determined  arithmetically  by  one  and  the  same  number, 
are  in  nature,  or  physically,  wholly  unequal  to  one 
another.^ 
The  atoms.  In  Order  that  men's  minds  may  be  better  disposed 
for  the  reception  of  truth,  it  is  necessary  first  to 
demolish  the  foundations  of  error  ;  *  Bruno  accordingly 
sets  himself  to  disprove  the  infinite  divisibility  of  the 
continuum.^  It  was  the  common  belief  that  there 
were  no  limits  set  to  the  dividing  power  of  either 
nature  or  art,  so  that,  however  small  a  part  might  be 
arrived  at,  it  was  possible  to  divide  it  into  yet  smaller 
parts,  on  the  analogy  of  the  division  of  a  fraction  into 
tens  of  thousands  of  parts.     Bruno  denied  this  analogy 

*  Op,  Lot,  i.  3.  p.  207.  5  (cf.  p.  302,  bk.  V.  ch.  2).        «  P.  208.  9.        *  P.  207. 
*  Dt  Min,  bk.  i.  ch.  5.  *  Aritt.  Fkyu  Z.  i.  231,  a  23. 


\ 


II 


CONTINUUM  NOT  DIVISIBLE         237 


to  be  justifiable,  as  in  the  latter  case  we  are  concerned 
not  with  division  but  with  multiplication  or  addition, 
not  with  a  continuum,  but  with  discrete  quantities,  and 
it  was  part  of  his  general  theory  that  the  addition  of 
discretes  might  be  carried  on  ad  infinitum  ;  the  inverse 
process  he  denied.  He  thus  held  opinions  directly 
contrary  to  those  of  Aristotle,  with  whom  the  mass 
of  the  universe  was  finite,  limited  by  its  enclosing 
sphere,  the  parts  of  the  universe  unlimited.  Aristotle  had 
an  upper  but  not  a  lower  limit ;  Bruno  a  lower  but  not 
an  upper.  So  time  and  space,  which  Aristotle  had  Time  and 
treated  as  finite  in  duration  or  extent,  but  as  infinitely  '^^"' 
divisibky  like  the  universe  itself,  are  regarded  by  Bruno 
as  unlimited  In  their  dimensions,  but  as  consisting  of 
discrete  minimal  parts.  **  In  every  point  of  duration 
is  beginning  without  end,  and  end  without  beginning" ; 
it  is  the  centre  of  two  infinities.  Therefore  the  whole 
of  duration  is  one  infinite  instant,  both  beginning  and 
end,  as  immeasurable  space  is  an  infinite  minimum  or 
centre.  "  The  beginning  and  source  of  all  errors,  both 
in  physics  and  in  mathematics,  is  the  resolution  of  the 
continuous  in  infinitum.  To  us  it  is  clear  that  the 
resolution  both  of  nature  and  of  true  art,  which  does 
not  advance  beyond  nature,  descends  from  a  finite 
magnitude  and  number  to  the  atom,  but  that  there  is 
no  limit  to  the  extension  of  things  either  in  nature  or 
in  thought,  except  in  regard  to  the  form  of  particular 
species.  Everywhere  and  always  we  find  the  minimum^ 
the  maximum  nowhere  and  never.  The  maximum  and 
minimum^  however,  may  in  one  sense  coincide,  so  that 
we  know  the  maximum  to  be  everywhere,  since  from 
what  has  been  said  it  is  evident  that  the  maxi- 
mum consists  in  the  minimum  and  the  minimum 
in  the  maximum,  as  in  the  many  is  the  one,  in  the 


i 


238 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


i 


^     J 


I   ! 


I 
f  .1 

1« 


one  the  many.  Yet  reason  and  nature  may  more 
readily  separate  the  minimum  from  the  maximum  than 
the  maximum  from  the  minimum.  Therefore  the 
immeasurable  universe  is  nothing  but  centre  every- 
where ;  eternity  nothing  but  a  moment  always ;  im- 
measurable body  an  atom ;  immeasurable  plane  a 
point ;  immeasurable  space  the  receptacle  of  a  point 
or  atom.*'  ^ 

The  chief  source  of  error  on  the  part  of  the  Peri- 
patetics was  their  failure  to  distinguish  between  the 
minimum  as  a  part,  and  the  minimum  a  terminus  or  limit. 
Hence  their  idea  that  no  combination  of  physical  minima 
would  give  a  magnitude,  since  two  or  more  would 
touch  one  another  with  their  whole  surface,  ue.  would 
coincide  :— otherwise  the  minimum  would  have  parts, 
a  part  of  each  touching  the  other,  and  a  part  not 
touching.  On  their  theory  it  would  follow  that  magni- 
tudes do  not  consist  of  parts,  or  at  least  not  of 
elementary  parts.  This  is  inconsistent  with  nature,  for 
existing  magnitudes  must  have  been  built  up  out  of 
nature's  elements,  and  with  art,  for  art  can  measure 
only  on  the  assumption  of  first  parts.  It  is  true  that 
what  is  posited  as  first  part  in  one  operation  may  be 
the  last  result  in  another,  for  the  minimumy  as  we  have 
seen,  is  a  relative  conception,  but  some  first  part  is 
always  assumed  in  any  operation.  And  as  the  operation 
of  art  is  not  infinite,  so  neither  is  there  infinite 
subordination  of  parts.^  When  two  minima  touch  one 
another,  they  do  not  do  so  with  their  whole  body,  or 
any  part  of  ity  but  one  with  its  terminus  or  limit  may 
touch  several  others ;  no  body  touches  another  with 
the  whole  of  itself  or  a  part,  but  with  either  the  whole 
or  the  part  of  its  limiting  surface.     The  terminus  of  a 

*■  Di  Mm,  p.  153.  22  ff.  "  P.  158. 


II 


PART  AND  LIMIT 


239 


thing  is  therefore  no  part  of  it,  and  by  implication  not 
a  minimal  part.  Hence  there  are  two  kinds  of  minima 
concerned — that  of  the  touching  body,  or  part,  and  the 
minimum  of  that  by  which  the  contact  is  effected,  the 
urminus}  The  atom,  which  is  the  minimal  sphere, 
touches  in  the  absolutely  minimal  point,  the  smallest 
terminus.  Other  spheres  do  not  touch  in  a  point 
simply,  but  in  more  than  one,  or  in  a  plane  circle.^ 
By  adding  limit  to  limit  we  never  obtain  a  magni- 
tude ;  the  terminus  is  no  part,  and  therefore  if  in 
contact  it  would  touch  with  its  whole  self,  so  that 
magnitude  is  not  made  up  of  termini^  whether  points, 
atoms,  lines,  or  surfaces  which  are  termini ;  and  this 
was  the  false  ground  on  which  the  Aristotelians  denied 
the  possibility  of  the  atom.  It  remained  to  ask  if  the 
termini  were  infinite,  since  the  atoms  were  not ;  but  it 
was  clear  that  their  number  was  determined  by  that  of 
the  atoms.  For  two  limits  do  not  touch  one  another  : — 
"  They  do  not  cohere  or  make  a  quantum^  but  through 
them  others  in  contact  with  one  another  make  a  con-- 
tiguum  or  continuum'' *  It  may  be  added  that  if  the 
parts  of  a  divisible  body  were  infinite  in  number,  the 
parts  of  the  whole  would  be  equalled  by  the  parts  of  the 
half,  for  in  the  infinite  there  can  be  no  greater  and 
less.  In  the  infinite,  as  we  have  seen  above,  there 
is  no  difference  between  palms,  digits,  miles,  between 
units  and  thousands,  nor  in  the  infinite  time  that  has 
elapsed  are  there  more  months  than  years,  more  years 
than  centuries.  If  any  one  set  of  these  were  less  than 
the  others  it  would  be  finite,  and  if  one  finite  number 
may  be  applied  to  the  whole,  then  the  whole  is  finite.* 
The  force  of  the  Achilles  dilemma  was  derived  from  the 
false  idea  that  the  minimum  of  one  kind  had  some 

1  De  Min,  p.  173.  9 }  cf.  173.  7,  180.        2  p^  j5o^        3  p,  jgj^        4  p^  ,5^ 


fs 


i 


I 


240 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


I 


The 

vacuitm. 
Atoms 
spherical. 


relation  to  that  of  another  kind,  e.g.  that  of  time  to 
that  of  motion,  that  of  impulsive  force  to  that  of  the 
motion  produced.  A  thing  of  one  kind  does  not 
define  or  measure  a  thing  of  another,  and  the  duration 
of  one  does  not  compare  in  the  same  sense  with  the 
duration  of  another.  Parts  of  different  things  are 
only  equivocally  called  parts,  and  minima  are  minima 
only  according  to  their  proper  (and  diverse)  definitions  ; 
therefore  one  is  not  measured  by  another,  except  in 
a  rough  way,  for  practical  purposes.^ 

As  the  atoms  come  into  contact  with  one  another, 
not  in  all  points  of  their  surface,  but  in  a  definite 
number,  it  follows  that  there  is  a  space  between  them, 
in  the  interstices  ;  it  was  this  thought  which  led  Democ- 
ritus  to  posit  a  vacuum.^  The  figure  of  the  corporeal 
minimum  must  be  spherical,  for  any  mass  which  has 
projections  can  always  be  thought  of  as  smaller,  when 
these  projections  have  been  removed ;  and  nature 
itself  suggests  this,  by  the  gradual  rounding  off  of 
substances  through  time,  and  the  apparent  roundness 
and  smoothness  of  rough  and  jagged  bodies  when  the 
observer  is  at  a  distance.^  Diversity  of  forms  of 
composite  bodies  results  easily  from  spherical  atoms, 
through  differences  in  situation  and  order,  differing 
amounts  of  vacuum  and  solid ;  but  a  simple  vacuum 
with  solid  bodies  is  not  sufficient, — there  must  be  a 
certain  matter  through  which  the  latter  cohere  together.* 
Although  all  other  determinations  may  be  abstracted 
from,  figure  at  least  must  be  predicated  of  the  atoms  ; 
quantity  cannot  be  asserted  of  that  which  is  thought  to 
be  unfigured.  These  determinations  of  the  minimum, 
though  not  given  to  sense,  may  nevertheless  be  made 


1  De  Mln,  i.  ch.  8. 
*  Ch.  12. 


'  Ch.  II.  p.  176. 
^  Ch.  2.  p.  140. 


II    MATHEMATICS  OF  THE  MINIMUM    241 

object  of  thought,  by  analogy  or  inference  fi-om  the 
combinations  of  sensible  minima  in  larger  composites, 
the  same  forms  of  aggregation  being  repeated  in  the 
higher  which  occur  in  the  lower  forms.^ 

From  the  consideration  of  mathematical  figures  as 
consisting  of  minima,  Bruno  attempted  both  to  remodel 
and  to  simplify  the  existing  mathematical  theory,  and, 
unfortunately  fell  foul  of  the  new  analytical  mathematics, 
the  theory  of  rationals  and  of  approximations,  which  at 
that  time  was  receiving  marked  extensions,  and  which 
has  since  justified  itself  so  completely  by  results.  It  is 
true  he  did  not  entirely  reject  it,  but  he  regarded  it  as 
merely  an  artifice  for  rough  practical  measurements. 
The  true  measure  is  always  the  minimum^  inferred  by 
analogy  from  the  combinations  of  greater  parts,  which 
are  perceived  by  sense.  Thus  the  minimal  circle,  after 
the  atom  itself,  consists  of  seven  minima,  the  minimal 
triangle  of  three,  and  the  minimal  square  of  four,  and 
as  each  figure  increases  not  by  the  addition  of  one 
atom  merely,  but  by  a  number  determined  by  the 
original  number  of  atoms  in  the  figure,  it  follows  that 
no  one  figure  is  ever  equal  to  another.  Thus  the 
second  triangle  is  of  six  minima,  the  second  square  of 
nine,  the  second  circle  of  nineteen.  The  "  squaring  of 
the  circle"  is  therefore  impossible,^  although  it  may 
be  approximately  reached  through  the  ultimate  coin- 
cidence of  arc  and  chord,  by  which  the  circle  becomes 
equal  to  a  polygon  with  an  infinite  number  of  sides.^ 
This,  however,  is  only  an  approximation  of  sense, 
which  fails  to  observe  the  infinitesimal  differences  that 
are  caused  by  the  existence  of  a  few  atoms,  more  or  less, 
in  a  figure.  They  are  visible  to  the  eye  of  reason, 
which  comprehends  that  no  two  figures  in  nature  are 

*  De  Min.  i.  ch.  14.  p.  184.  23.         ^  ii.  ch.  8.  p.  214.         *  iii.  ch.  12.  p.  267. 


I  ^ 


^  I 


242 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


^er  exactly  equal.  In  exact  geometry  the  number  of 
one  species  of  figure  has  nothing  in  common  with  that 
of  another.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  even  on  his  own 
ground  Bruno  was  in  error  in  this  regard  ;  for  example, 
the  seventh  triangle  and  the  fifth  square  are  each  com- 
posed of  thirty-six  minima.^  But  it  is  hardly  necessary 
to  take  seriously  his  teaching  in  this  respect.  He  was 
wholly  governed  by  the  belief  in  the  infinite  diversity 
of  nature,  and  the  absolute  incommensurability  of  any 
member  of  one  species  of  beings  with  one  of  a  diflPerent 
species.  "  Since  a  definite  minimum  exists,  it  is  not 
possible  either  in  reality  or  in  thought  for  a  square  to 
be  equalled  by  a  circle,  nor  even  a  square  by  a  pentagon, 
a  triangle  by  a  square,  nor  in  fine  any  species  of  figure 
by  a  figure  of  another  species ;  for  diflference  in  the 
number  of  sides  implies  also  diflference  in  the  order 
and  number  of  parts.  As  figures  in  this  respect  are  as 
numbers,  and  one  species  of  number  cannot  be  equalled 
by  another  either  *  formally '  or  fundamentally  (i.e. 
cither  in  idea  or  in  fact),  we  can  never  make  an 
equilateral  figure  of  any  kind  equal  to  one  of  another 
by  first  parts."  ^  Where  this  transformation  is  ap- 
parently carried  out,  as  where  a  cube  of  wax  is  moulded 
to  another  figure,  the  result  is  due  to  the  varying 
degrees  of  density  in  the  diflferent  parts  of  the  material ; 
no  solid  parts  are  added  or  subtracted,  but  the  dis- 
position and  extent  of  the  pores  or  vacua  are  altered. 
But  no  argument  can  be  drawn  from  this  rough  method, 
for  the  principles  of  practice  are  diff^erent  from  those  of 

science.* 

The   latter   principles  are  then    applied  boldly  to 
geometrical  science  :   thus  it  is  shown   that  an  angle, 

1  Lasswitz,  p.  26,  note,  where  it  is  said  the  eighth  triangle  and  the  sixth  circle  are 
equal.  *  Op,  Lat,  i.  3.  p.  217.  9.  »  Pp.  219,  221. 


H 


n  SIMPLIFICATION  OF  EUCLID         243 

although    it   may   be    multiplied    indefinitely,    can    be 
divided  only  into  two  parts  ;  all  its  lines,  it  is  understood, 
consisting  of  fila  or  rows  of  atoms  ;  ^  that  the  circle 
has   not  an    infinite    number  of  radii,   for   from    the 
circumference  to  the  centre  only  six  such  lines  can  be 
drawn  ;  ^  that  not  every  line  can  be  divided  into  two 
equal  parts,  for  the  physical  line  or  filum  may,  naturally, 
consist    of  an    odd   number   of  atoms ;  ^  in   any  case 
geometrical  bisection  can  at  best  be  a  near  approximation, 
— though  the  two  halves  be  apparently  equal,  they  may 
really  diff^er  by   many   atoms.     On  this  basis,  in  the 
fourth  and  fifth  books  of  the  De  Minimo,  Bruno  ofl^ers 
a  simplification  of  the  geometry  of  Euclid.     As  nature 
itself  is  the  highest  unification  of  the  manifold,  and  the 
monad  is  the  unity  and  essence  of  all  number,  so  we 
are  taught  to  pass  "  from  the  infinite  forms  and  images 
of  art  to  the  definite  forms  of  nature,  which  the  mind 
in  harmony  with  nature  grasps  in  a  few  forms,  while 
the  first  mind  has   at  once  the   potentiality   and    the 
reality  of  all  particular  things  in  the  (simple)  monad."  * 
In  accordance  with  the  method  of  simplification  sug- 
gested  by   this  doctrine,  Bruno  sets  himself  to  show 
that  the   greater   part   of  Euclid    may   be   intuitively 
presented  in  three  complicated  figures,  named  respec- 
tively   the    yttrium    Appollinis,    Atrium    Palladis,    and 
Atrium  Veneris,     He  hoped  that  by  this  means,  "if 
not  always,  for  the   most   part  at  any  rate,  without 
further  explanation,  the  demonstration  and  the    very 
evidence  of  the  thing  might  be  presented  to  the  senses 
of  all,  without  numbers, — not  after  the  partial  method 
of  others,  who  in  considering  a  statue  take  now  the 
foot,  now  the  eyes,  now  the  forehead,  now  other  parts 

1  Op.  Lat.  i.  3.  p.  243  (bk.  iii.  ch.  3).  2  P.  245  (bk.  iii.  ch.  4.),  cf.  p.  323 

(bk.  V.  c.  9),  324  (c.  10).  »  P.  306  (bk.  V.  ch.  5.).  *  p.  270.  14. 


it 

II 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


II 


MATHEMATICAL  ATOMISM 


245 


separately, — but  explaining  all  in  each  and  each  in  all."  * 
It  is  no  part  of  the  purpose  of  this  book  to  go  at 
length  into  the  mathematics  of  Bruno,  which  un- 
fortunately have  not  yet  met  with  a  competent  exposition. 
Apart  from  the  difficulty  of  the  matter  itself,  the 
poetical  form  and  setting  of  his  theorems  is  an  additional 
stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  understanding.  Bruno 
was  put  to  many  shifts  in  order  to  give  a  poetical 
colouring  to  the  most  prosaic  of  subjects. 

We  have  gone  thus  fully  into  the  detail  of  Bruno's 
atomic  theory,  more  so  perhaps  than  its  intrinsic  value 
seems  to  demand,  because  this  aspect  of  his  doctrine  is 
the  most  important  philosophically,  and  has  exercised 
the  greatest  influence  upon  the  course  of  speculation. 
It  also  provides  most  clearly  an  exemplification  of  the 
return  which  was  made,  or  thought  to  be  made,  by  the 
Renaissance  to  the  older  pre-Aristotelian  philosophy  and 
science.  The  rejection  by  Aristotle  and  his  scholastic 
followers  of  the  atomic  theory  of  Leucippus  and 
Democritus  had  been  based  upon  the  identification  of 
space  and  body.  The  possibility  of  a  vacuum  in  the 
corporeal  world  was  denied,  on  the  ground  that  dis- 
creteness was  inconsistent  with  the  continuity  which 
was  felt  to  be  a  necessary  condition  of  space.  Accord- 
ingly, the  reintroduction  of  the  atom  was  possible  only 
in  one  of  two  ways — either  by  the  distinction  between 
body  and  space,  or  by  the  application  of  the  atomic 
constitution  of  body  to  space  itself.  The  former  and 
trijer  solution  was  not  open  to  Bruno.  His  time  was 
still  too  much  under  the  domination  of  Peripatetic 
thought  for  him  to  be  able  to  take  the  important  step 
of  critically  separating  these  two  notions.     The  latter 

^  Cf.  Art.  adv.  Math.  ii.   The  figures  there  are  slightly  different,  and  named  Figurae 
Mentis,  httelUctui,  Amoris. 


way,  therefore,  was  that  which  he  followed.  Hence  the 
curious  attempt  to  remodel  mathematical  theory  on  the 
basis  of  the  atom,  which  we  have  described  above,  and 
the  reduction  of  mathematical  certa.inty  to  an  illusion  of 
sense.  Figure  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  combinations 
/  of  atoms  ;  and  owing  to  the  spherical  form  of  the  atom, 
the  infinite  number  of  them  existing  in  any  body  which 
is  presented  to  sense,  and  the  space  which  lies  between 
their  surfaces,  mathematical  equality  and  exactness  are 
impossible.  Neither  straight  line,  therefore,  nor  perfect 
circle  are  to  be  found  in  reality.  Mathematics,  which 
should  be  based  upon,  or  which  presupposes,  continuity, 
is  confounded  with  physics,  which  presupposes  the 
analysis  of  body  into  discrete,  impenetrable  atoms. 
Physical  atomism  finds  its  justification  in  the  experienced 
fact  of  resistance,  which  is  the  primary  quality  of  body 
as  perceived  by  our  senses.  In  mathematical  space,  on 
the  other  hand,  we  abstract  from  all  qualities  except 
that  of  dimension  only.  Resistance  would  be  in- 
explicable were  it  possible  to  proceed  ad  infinitum  in 
dividing  matter ;  it  implies  an  ultimate  irreducible  and 
indestructible  unit,  whether  we  regard  this  unit  as  a 
centre  of  force  or  as  an  inert  substance  merely. 

The  same  influence  of  Aristotelian  thought  led 
Bruno  to  posit  a  subtle  matter,  the  Ether,  as  filling  up 
the  interstices  between  the  atoms.  Space  and  body 
having  been  identified,  it  was  seen  that  a  vacuum  was 
inconsistent  with  the  nature  of  things.  The  Aristotelian 
flenum  was  reintroduced  in  this  form,  that  there  might 
be  some  reality  where  the  discrete  atoms  were  not.  The 
bolder  step  of  asserting  the  fact,  and  indeed,  the  neces- 
sity of  a  vacuum  as  a  presupposition  of  knowledge  of  the 
material  world,  was  not^taken  until  there  appeared  the 
work  of  Gassendi,  by  whom  the  final  blow  was  given  to 


■^' I ' 


I 


246 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


the  old  conception  of  body  and  space,  and  through  whom 
the  critical  separation  of  the  one  from  the  other  was  first 
rendered  possible.  It  is  curious  that  Bruno  did  not  think 
of  applying  to  the  continuous  ether  any  geometrical 
measure  ;  had  he  done  so,  he  would  have  understood 
the  value  of  the  new  theory  of  infinitesimals  and 
irrationals  which  he  opposed  so  strongly.  Again,  had 
he  carried  out  more  fully  the  distinction  which  he 
draws  between  the  atom  and  the  terminus  or  limit,  the 
same  result  would  have  followed.  Pure  geometry  is 
,  the  geometry  of  the  limit ;  for  the  limit  is  not  only 
between  atom  and  atom,  or  body  and  body,  but  also 
between  atom  and  vacuum  or  ether.  In  this  sense  it  is 
both  continuous  and  figured,  the  compatibility  of  which 
qualities  Bruno  had  denied  ;  the  continuous  is  measured, 
not  by  making  it  discrete,  but  by  making  the  number, 
the  measure,  fluid  or  continuous. 

Lasswitz  has  shown  that  there  are  in  Bruno's  theory 
three  dktjnct  aspects,  not,  however,  clearly  separated  one 
from  another,  of  the  atomic  hypothesis :  they  may  be 
named  severally  the  metaphysical,  the  physical,  and  the 
Meta-  critical  aspects.  From  the  metaphysical  point  of  view 
atomism,  thc  atom  is  the  ultimately  simple,  indeterminate 
substance  of  things ;  its  conception  results  from  the 
eflFort  to  find  the  real  substance  which  is  outside  of, 
and  unafl^ected  by,  the  change  and  decay  apparent  on 
the  surface  of  things,  but  felt  to  be  unreal.  Simplicity, 
unity,  substance,  is  that  which  is  sought,  an  abiding 
somewhat  underlying  the  flux  of  the  universe,  which  is 
regarded  as  an  illusory  appearance  to  sense.  From  this 
aspect  it  is  that  the  identity  of  minimum  and  maximum^ 
of  the  least  with  the  greatest,  is  to  be  explained. 
Number,  plurality,  and  diversity  no  longer  apply  to  the 
absolutely  simple :  all  are  determinations  of  human  and 


II 


PHYSICAL  ATOMISM 


247 


finite  origin  which  are  here  no  longer  valid.  In  the 
simple  all  contraries  coincide,  for  the  very  reason  that 
it  has  no  determinations  in  itself;  even  the  highest 
qualities  which  men  would  attribute  to  God,  for 
example,  — justice  and  goodness,  —  are  improperly 
predicated  of  him,  for  as  in  him  the  greatest  and  the 
least  coincide,  so  do  goodness  and  evil  and  all  other 
contrary  qualities.  In  this  respect  Bruno  was  following 
closely  in  the  footsteps  of  Nicolaus  of  Cusa. 

From  the  second  point  of  view,  that  of  physical  Physical 
atomism,  the  atom  is  nothing  more  than  a  hypothesis  **""''"• 
to  explain  the  constitution  and  qualities  of  nature  as  we 
experience  it.  We  seek  to  account  for  the  differences 
in  material  bodies  and  in  their  ways  of  acting  upon  one 
another  by  the  interaction  of  ultimate  elements  of  which 
the  nature  and  laws  may  be  variously  interpreted.  Of 
this  point  of  view  also  there  are  traces  in  Bruno, 
although  for  it  he  had  least  regard.  He  does  not 
attempt,  for  example,  to  apply  the  theory  of  the  atoms 
to  explain  the  four  elements  which  had  come  down  from 
Aristotle.  He  leaves  them  practically  intact,  and  we 
have  seen  that  they  form  a  standing  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  a  consistent  theory.  The  earth  alone  is  atomic 
in  its  nature  ;  water,  air,  and  fire  seem  alike  fluid  and 
continuous  in  quality,  but  wherein  their  difi^erence  from 
one  another  consists  he  was  unable,  or  did  not  care,  to 
make  clear.  Perhaps,  if  we  take  his  view  at  its  best, 
we  should  say  that  all  three  represent  strata,  varying  in 
density,  of  the  one  fluid  and  all-pervading  ether.  Had 
he  worked  out  this  conception,  which  was  evidently 
present,  on  occasions,  to  his  mind,  he  would  have  given 
an  example  of  what  is  meant  by  physical  atomism.  But 
this  was  left  for  another  century  to  fulfil.  From  the 
third  or  c^j^^£^ij^x^  of  view,  which  inquires  into  the  AtomUm. 


\i 


i-'i 


248 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


presuppositions  or  the  possibility  of  knowledge,  Bruno 
may  be  regarded  as  being,  to  some  extent,  a  forerunner 
of  Kant,  in  the  stress  he  lays  upon  the  relation  of  the 
minimum  to  measure  or  knowledge,  and  in  his  doctrine 
of  the  relativity  of  the  conception  of  the  minimum. 
The  minimum,  instead  of  a  last  of  division,  becomes  a 
first  of  composition — a  ground  which  we  must  necessarily 
assume  in  order  to  account  for  the  experienced  fact  of 
composition.  To  know  a  composite  is  to  measure  it, 
and  measurement  implies  the  minimum  or  first  part, 
without  which  quantity  in  any  form  cannot  be  explained. 
As  the  comparison  of  numbers  with  one  another,  their 
determination  as  greater  or  less,  is  only  possible  on  the 
assumption  of  a  unit,  a  common  measure  to  which  each 
may  be  referred,  so  the  comparison  of  bodies  with  one 
another,  as  to  quantity  and  quality  alike,  demands  a 
corporeal  minimum,  to  which  their  differences  must  be 
reduced.  This  relation  to  knowledge  carries  with  it 
the  relativity  of  the  minimum  according  to  the  subject- 
matter  with  which  the  knower  is  for  the  time  being 
concerned.  If  all  knowledge  is  of  the  same  type,  then 
in  each  application  of  it — each  subdivision  of  knowledge 
as  a  whole — there  is  presupposed  the  corresponding 
minimum.  That  which  is  least  in  one  sphere  may  be 
greatest  in  another  ;  that  which  is  element  of  one  science 
may  be  that  which  another  seeks  to  analyse  into  lesser 
constituents.  The  celestial  body,  which  is  a  highly 
complex  combination  of  elements,  may  be  the  unit  of 
astronomical  science.  The  phrase,  which  is  the  unit  of 
the  rhetorician,  is  analysed  by  the  logician  and  the 
grammarian  into  terms  and  words ;  these  are  analysed 
by  another  science  into  syllables  and  letters ;  these  by 
the  mathematician  into  lines  and  points.  Thus  every 
science  has  its  own  (relative)   minimum.       Only  one 


'XHr^-j-jC    •*•    tfc^'yw 


:r^ 


j[^Avy-«rt>.*''**^ 


II 


ATOMS  AND  MATERIALISM 


249 


minimum  is  absolutely  so  named, — God  as  the  monad  of 
monads.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  relativity  of  the 
monad  is  dependent  upon  the  origin  of  its  conception, 
in  the  conditions  of  knowledge  ;  it  is  because  quantity 
is  universal  that  a  minimum  is  necessary,  and  it  \t 
because  quantity  differs  in  kind,  in  each  subject  of 
knowledge, — because  it  is,  in  scholastic  phrase,  equivo- 
cally applied  in  the  different  cases, — that  the  minima 
differ  from  one  another.  The  minimal  number  is  no 
measure  of  the  minimal  body  nor  of  the  geometrical 
figure,  and  the  numbers  which  are  in  use  among  men 
are  not  those  which  may  be  employed  by  other  and 
higher  rational  beings.  Thus,  even  number  itself 
is  a  relative  determination  ;  ten  horses,  said  Bruno, 
are  not  really  equal  to  ten  men,  but  only  conven- 
tionally. 

The  ancient  atomism  upon  which  Bruno  founded 
hiatheory  was,  at  any  rate  in  its  traditional  rendering, 
frankly  materialistic.  It  admitted  nothing  but  atoms 
and  the  void,  all  things  else  being  dependent  upon  the 
composition  of  atoms,  which  itself,  and  all  that  results 
from  it,  is  merely  an  appearance  to  sense,  without 
corresponding  reality  in  nature.  All  physical  opera- 
tions were  explained  by  mechanical  arrangement  and 
movement  of  the  atoms.  The  method  which  was 
pursued  thus  unscientifically,  without  consciousness  of 
the  extent  of  its  validity,  modern  atomic  theory  has 
followed  scientifically,  with  full  comprehension  of  its 
bearings,  and  perhaps  without  due  consideration  of  its 
limits.  Bruno  tells  us  that  he  had  atj^pe  time  been  an 
adherent  of  Democritus'  atomic  theory,  but  on  reflec- 
tion had  been  unable  to  rest  satisfied  with  his  material- 
istic account  of  the  nature  of  things.  In  this  case  also 
he  showed  himself  unable  to  get  rid  of  the  ties  which 


i\ 


I 


1 

41 


1\ 


I 


250 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


bound  all  the  thought  of  his  time— even  that  thought 
which  most  believed  itself  to  be  free. 

Aristotle's  distinction  of  form  and  matter  in  nature, 

of  pure  activity  and  pure  passivity,  had  stiU sufficient 

influence   to   render   even   in   Bruno's    time  a   purely 
mechanical  treatment  of  nature  an  impossibility.     The 
opposing  school,  the  Neo-Platonism  which  attracted  so 
many  minds  of  that  period,  because  of  its  supposed  incon- 
sistency with  Aristotle's  system,  was  itself  an  offshoot,  to 
some  extent,  of  that  system,  and  was  still  less  scientific  in 
its  tendency.     Mysticism,  of  which  it  was  partly  a  cause 
and  partly  an  efl^ect,  lent  its  weight  also  against  any 
mechanical  interpretation  of  nature.     Thus  even  while 
apparently   governed    by   scientific    aspiration,    Bruno 
gives   a   teleological    scheme    of    the   universe    which 
renders  any  scientific  explanation  of  it  impossible.     Not 
only,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the  ether  identified  with  the 
first  substance,  spirit,  or  soul  of  the  universe,  but  also 
ilie  greater  and  lesser  organic  bodies  are  governed  each 
by  its  individual  soul,  which  is  somehow  distinguished 
from  the  universal  spirit,  and  within  each  of  these  is  an 
infinite  number   of  smaller   living  bodies.     In    other 
words,  the  atoms  themselves  are  animated  virtually,  if 
not  actually.     This  animistic  interpretation  is  in  direct 
conflict  with  the  mechanical  interpretation  which  science 
has  followed,  and  which  it  must  continue  to  follow  if 
it  is  to  produce  any  result.      Thus,  motion  and  the 
changes  of  composition  that  derive  from  motion  are 
explained  not  by  the  mechanical  impact  of  atoms  and 
bodies  upon  one  another,  but    by  the   action  of  the 
*  intrinsic  soul  in  each  being,  which  causes  the  motion  of 
the  body,  in  accordance  with  its  need  and  desire  of  self- 
preservation.     All  motion,  even  the  slightest,  is  thus 
explained  by  a  final  cause.     In  the  whole  universe  also, 


II 


NATURE  AND  SPIRIT 


251 


the  constantly  occurring  changes  and  transformations 
are  due  to  a  similar  final  cause — the  need  for  each  thing 
to  become  explicitly  that  which  it  already  is  implicitly, 
i.e.  the  whole  of  reality.  It  required  once  more  a 
critical  separation  of  the  spheres  of  validity  of  the 
respective  conceptions  of  nature  and  spirit,  such  as 
Kant  attempted,  before  full  scope  could  be  given 
to  mechanical  interpretation  on  the  one  side,  and 
teleology  restricted  to  the  domain  of  spirit  only  on 
the  other. 


% 


.vN 


I 


i  , 


II 


} 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE    PRACTICAL    PHILOSOPHY    OF    BRUNO 

The  distinctively  ethical  teaching  of  Bruno  is  con- 
tained in  the  two  dialogues— the  Spaccio  delta  Bestia 
Trionfante,  and  the  Heroici  Furori.  The  latter  de- 
scribes the  struggles  and  aspirations  of  the  "  heroic  "  or 
generous  human  soul  in  its  pursuit  of  the  infinitely 
beautiful  and  good— its  efforts  towards  union  with  the 
divine  source  of  all  things.  To  this  more  constructive 
work,  in  which  moral  philosphy  was  to  be  treated 
according  to  "  the  inward  light  with  which  the  divine 
sun  of  intelligence  had  irradiated"  the  soul  of  the 
writer,  the  Spaccio  was  to  form  an  introduction.  "  It 
seemed  well  to  begin  with  a  kind  of  prelude,  after  the 
manner  of  musicians  ;  to  draw  some  dim  and  confused 
lines,  as  painters  do;  to  lay  deep  bases  and  dark 
foundations,  as  do  the  great  builders ;  and  this  end 
seemed  best  achieved  by  putting  down  in  number  and 
Ml  order  all  the  primary  forms  of  morality  which  are 
the  capital  virtues  and  vices."  ^  The  Spaccio,  with  its 
shorter  appendage,  the  Cabala  del  Cavallo  Pegaseo, 
contained  a  bitter  attack  upon  the  prevalent  forms  of 
Christian  religion ;  it  especially  attacked  the  doctrine  of 
the  all-sufficiency  of  faith,  which,  interpreted  as  it  then 
was,  might  stand  as  the   formula  of  mediaeval   cor- 

*  Lag.  407.  25. 
252 


\v 


PART  II 


THE  "SPACCIO 


t> 


253 


ruption  and  stagnation ;  and  it  was  upon  this  dialogue, 
almost  solely,  that  the  reputation  Bruno  long  enjoyed — 
U     that  of  being  an  atheist— was  based.     It  is  therefore 
well  to  remember  the  introductory  nature  of  the  work. 
Had  not  "  atheism  "  been  frequently  synonymous  with 
*' unorthodoxy,"   the  Heroic  Enthusiasms  would  have 
shown  on  how  shallow  a  foundation  the  charge  rested, 
for  that  dialogue  breathes  the  purest  religious  emotion 
and  aspiration.     Bruno  had,  however,  a  premonition  of 
the  fate  that  was  to  befall  his  memory.     He  protested, 
perhaps  with  a  touch  of  sarcasm,  that  nothing  in  his 
work  was  said  "  assertively,""— thzt  he  had  no  wish  either 
directly  or  indirectly  to  strike  at  the  truth,  to  send  a 
shaft   against   anything   that   was   honourable,    useful, 
natural,  and,  consequently,  divine.^     His  own  religion 
was  that  which  had  its  beginning,  its  growth,  and  its 
continuance  in  "  the  raising  of  the  dead,  making  whole 
the  sick,  and  giving  of  one  s  goods  "  ;  and  not  that  in 
the  spirit  of  which  the  goods  of  others  were  seized,  the 
whole  maimed,  and  the  living  put  to  death.^     The  con- 
clusions of  the  Spaccio  were  not  therefore  to  be  regarded 
as  presenting  a  finished  system,  but  as  mere  suggestions, 
to  be  tested   "when  the  music   should   be   given   in 
concert,    the   picture    finished,    the   roof   put    on   the 
building."     On  the  other  hand,  it  is  clear  also  that  in 
the  Spaccio  Bruno  intended  to  present  a  popular  moral 
philosophy,  or  to  point  out  the  degree  of  virtue  which 
might  be  attained  without  the  influence  of  the  divine 
afflatus  described  in  the  Enthusiasms,     As  in  the  philo- 
sophy of  Aristotle  before  Bruno,  and  in  that  of  Spinoza 
after  him,  the  perfection   of  this  customary  morality 
formed  at  the  same  time  the  ante-chamber  through  which 
alone  entrance  was  to  be  gained  into  the  inner  chamber  of 


41 


!■ 


W 


1  Lag.  p.  407.  7. 


a  P.  406.  29. 


i 


254 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Faith  and 
works. 


divine  love.  This  is  the  real  meaning  that  underlies 
the  bizarre  and  at  times  extravagant  humour  of  the 
dialogue :  it  points  out  the  purification  to  which  the 
human  soul  must  submit  before  it  can  become  a  fitting 
vessel  for  the  divine  enthusiasm. 

Before  a  purer  morality  can  be  taught  to  any  avail, 
there  must  exist  a  desire  for  it  in  the  minds  of  those  to 
whom  it  shall  be  revealed.      In  the  way  of  Bruno's 
proposed  reformation  there  stood  the  attitude  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  religious  orders  towards   "faith" 
and    towards    "works'*    respectively.       Faith    meant 
merely   professed    belief   in,   or    acceptance    of,    their 
doctrines,  and  conformity  with  their  practices— blind 
acceptance  and   unreasoning   conformity— in  con^ast 
with  which  an  earthly  life  that  was  simply  moral  was 
held  to  be  of  no  value  towards  the  blessed  life  hereafter. 
Under  the  influence  of  this  spirit  the  worst  vices  were 
practised,  condoned,  and  pardoned,  even  in  Bishops  and 
Cardinals,   not  to  speak  of  the  ordinary  priests  and 
monks.     It  is  only  as  embodying  this  conception  that 
Bruno  attacked   the  Church.      Thus   Jupiter,   in    the 
SpacciOy  complains  that  his  powers  are  decaying  :— « I 
have  not  vigour  enough  to  pit  myself  against  certain 
half-men,  and  I  must,  to  my  great  chagrin,  leave  the 
worid  to  run  its  course  as  chance  and  fortune  direct. 
I  am  like  the  old  lion  of  ^Esop- the  ass  kicked  it  with 
impunity,  the  ape  played  tricks  upon  it,  the  pig  came 
and  rubbed  its  dusty  paunch  upon  it,  as  if  it  were  some 
lifeless  log.     My  noble  oracles,  fanes,  and  altars  are 
thrown  down,  and  most  unworthily  desecrated  ;  while 
altars  and  statues  are  raised  there  to  some  whom  I  am 
ashamed  to  name,  for  they  are  worse  than  our  satyrs, 
fauns,  and  other  half-beasts,  viler  than  the  crocodiles  of 
Egypt;    for   these   at    least    showed    some    mark    of 


II 


ATTACK  ON  CHRISTIANITY 


255 


divinity  when  magically  guided,  but  those  are  quite  the 
scum  of  the  earth."  ^  Bruno  is  ironically  contrasting 
the  Christian  ideal,  as  he  interprets  it,  with  that  of  the 
Greeks  and  Egyptians.  The  former  is  that  of  a  being 
only  half-human,  half-free  ;  on  one  side  of  his  nature 
he  is  reduced  to  the  level  of  the  beast,  the  ass,  the 
bearer  of  burdens,  unquestioning,  faithful.  Again,  one 
of  the  constellations,  the  Corona  Borealis^  is  to  be  left 
in  the  heavens,  escaping  the  general  fate,^  until  the 
time  when  it  shall  be  given  in  reward  to  "  the  invincible 
arjm  that  shall  bring  peace,  the  long-desired,  to  a 
miserable,  long-suffering  Europe,  cutting  down  the 
many  heads  of  that  worse  than  Lernean  monster  that  is 
scattering  its  fateful  poison  of  manifold  heresy,  and 
sending  it  through  every  portion  of  her  veins."  ^  To 
this  decision  of  Jupiter,  Momus,  the  critic  and  wit  of 
the  assembly,  adds  that  it  would  be  enough  "if  a 
certain  sect  of  pedants  could  be  rooted  out,  who,  doing 
no  good  themselves,  as  the  divine  and  natural  law  bade, 
yet  thought  themselves,  and  desired  to  be  thought 
by  others,  pious  and  pleasing  to  the  gods ;  they 
said  that  to  do  good  was  good,  to  do  evil,  evil ;  but 
that  men  gained  grace  and  favour  with  the  gods,  not 
through  the  good  that  they  did,  but  through  hoping 
and  believing  in  accordance  with  their  catechism.  As 
if  the  gods,  said  Mercury,  were  anxious  about  nothing 
but  their  own  vainglory,  cared  nothing  for  the  injury 
caused  to  human  society.  And  they  defame  us, 
Momus  continued,  by  calling  this  an  institution  of 
heaven,  decrying  effects  or  fruits  ;  while  all  the  time 
they  are  doing  no  work  themselves,  but  living  on  the 

^  Lag.  427.  19. 

^  The  constellations  as  typifying  vices  were  to  be  expelled  from  the  heavens  and 
replaced  hy  the  personified  virtues. 
'  Lag.  p.  445. 


/( 


1 


'I 


256 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


works    of   others,    who    instituted    temples,    chapels, 
hospices,  hospitals,  colleges,  universities,  for  quite  other 
men  than  they.     These  others,  even  if  they  are  not 
perfect,  will  not,  like  their  usurpers,  be  perverse  and 
pernicious  to  the  world  ;    they  will   be  useful  to  the 
state,  skilled  in  speculative  science,  studious  of  morality, 
fanning  zeal  and  enthusiasm   for  doing  good  to  one 
another,  and  maintaining  the  common  weal  for  which 
all  laws  are  ordained.      The  usurpers  are  worse  than 
grubs,  caterpillars,  or  destroying  locusts,  and  should  be 
exterminated  accordingly."^      How  is  it  possible,  we 
read  elsewhere,   that  men  should   regard   that  as  the 
highest  type  of  religion   which  holds  behaviour,   the 
doing  of  good  deeds,  to  be  unimportant,  or  even  to  be 
vice  and  error ;  or  pretends  that  the  gods  do  not  care 
for  good  deeds — that  through  such,  however  great  they 
are,  men  are  not  justified  ?  ^     This  creed  was  a  disease 
that  ran  through  a  man's  nature  and  poisoned  it  for 
ever.      "When  one   turned   from    any  other    profes- 
sion or  faith  to  this,  his  liberality  was  exchanged  for 
avarice,    mildness   for   insolence,    humility  for   pride ; 
formerly  open  handed  with  his  own   goods,   he    now 
became  a  robber  and  usurper  of  those  of  others ;  a 
good  man  became  a  hypocrite  ;  a  sincere  one,  cunningly 
evil  ;    a   simple   one,   malicious  ;    he   who   was   once 
conscious  of  his  own  defects  became  the  most  arrogant 
of  men ;  he  who  was  ready  to  do  any  good  action,  to 
learn  any  new  knowledge,  became  prone  to  every  kind 
of  ignorance  and  ribaldry ;    he  who  had  merely  the 
makings  of  a  rogue  became  the  worst  possible  of  men."  • 
Miracle-working  was  the  universal  means  by  which  the 
supremacy  of  faith  was  maintained.     Momus  therefore 


*  Lag.  p.  446.  I  ff.,  cf.  447, 
*  P.  462.  30. 


',     ^^Sluextafitida  Sforcaria  del  mondo,"  and  467. 

»  P.  468.  25. 


II 


MIRACLES  AND  DECEIT 


257 


proposed  to  send  Orion  upon  the  earth.  "  He  can  do 
miracles — can  walk  upon  the  waves  of  the  sea  without 
sinking  or  wetting  his  feet ;  let  us  send  him  among 
men  to  make  them  believe  everything  we  would  have 
them  believe— that  black  is  white,  that  the  human 
intellect  is  blind  where  it  thinks  itself  to  see  best ;  that 
what  to  reason  appears  excellent,  good,  best,  is  vile, 
wicked,  evil  in  the  extreme ;  that  nature  is  a  strumpet,  the 
law  of  nature  a  ribaldry  ;  that  nature  and  divinity  cannot 
work  together  for  one  and  the  same  good  end  ;  that  the 
justice  of  the  one  is  not  subordinate  to  that  of  the  other, 
but  that  they  are  as  contrary  as  darkness  and  light."  ^ 

The  attitude_of  mind  which  formed  the  ideal  of  Asinity. 
the  Church  for  its  members  Bruno  typified  frequently 
enough,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  Ass,  after  Cusanus' 
Bocta  Ignorantia  and  Agrippa's  praise  of  Asinity  in  his 
work  on  The  Vanity  of  all  Sciences,     But  they  were  in 
earnest :  Bruno  bitterly  ironical.     In  Y{\%  Cabala  Asinity 
is  given  the  two  places  left  vacant  in  the  heavens  by 
the  council  of  the  gods  in  the  Spaccio  :   the  place  of 
Ursa  Major  is  taken  by  Asinity  in  the  abstract,  that  of 
Eridanus  by  Asinity  in  the  concrete.     The  whole  work 
is  in  praise  of  "the   pure   goodness,  royal  sincerity, 
magnificent  majesty  of  ignorance,  learned  foolishness, 
divine  Asinity."  ^     Asinity  is  in  the  sphere  of  practice 
as  submission  to  authority  in  that  of  speculation,  or 
pedantry  in  that  of  teaching.      Against  all  of  these 
Bruno  casts  the  shafts  of  his  irony,  now  broad  and 
heavy,  now  fine,  light  and  piercing.' 

1  Lag.  p.  543.  35  ff.,  cf.  544.  20,  546.  16,  and  esp.  554.  13  ff.  {Chiron  the  Centaur), 
for  other  references  to  the  Church  and  its  beliefs.     Bruno  could  not  have  written  the  ^ 
last  passage  while  retaming  any  shred  of  genuine  belief  in  the  divinity  of  Christ.  ^ 
V.  also  534.  32. 

2  Cabala,  p.  565. 

3  Cf.  the  poem  in  the  Cabala,  p.  564.  25,  0'  Sant'  duntta,  and  Cena,  Lag.  147. 21 
(the  Ark  of  Noah),  etc. 

S 


I 


il 


)M 


I 


258 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


The  list  of  virtues  which  Bruno  gives  as  adorning 
the  soul  of  the  renovated  man  does  not  present  any 
novelty,  except  perhaps  in  the  order  assigned  to  the 
different  virtues.^     Along  with  each  mythical  figure  ot 
the  constellations  he  names  the  various  vices  that  are 
expelled,  and  into  the  place  of  which  the  virtues  come. 
The  Bear,  the  highest  constellation  in  the  heavens,  is 
replaced  by  Truth,  the  Dragon  by  Prudence,  Cepheus 
hy  Sophia,  or  Wisdom.     The  following  table  shows 
some  of  the  virtues  which  occupy  the  different  posts 
vacated  by  the  mythical  beings  of  the  heavens,  and 
their  contrary  vices. 

>  Th.  li.t.  gi«n  in  th.  .rgum«t  are  not  qnite  the  «me  « tho<«  in  the  body  of 
the  work,  and  both  differ  to  «.me  extent  from  the  U.t  of  vce.  which  ..  put  »  the 
mouth  of  Jupiter  at  the  beginning,  p.  439. 


Table 


II 


THE  VIRTUES 


259 


Constellation. 

Virtue. 

Vices. 

I.    Ursa 

Truth 

Deformity,  Falsity,  De- 
fect, Impossibility,  Con- 
tingency, Hypocrisy, 
Imposture,  Felony, 

2.   Ursa  Major 

The  place  is  left 
vacant,  to  be 
filled  in  the 
satire  of  the 
Cabala  by 
"  Asinity  in  the 
abstract." 

3.  Draco      , 

Prudence. 

Cunning,  Craftiness, 
Malice,    Stupidity,    In- 

ertia, Imprudence. 
(Enyy).i 

4.  Cepheus  . 

Wisdom. 

Sophistry,  Ignorance  (of 
evil  disposition),  foolish 
Faith  (Hardness). 

5.  Bootes 

Law. 

Prevarication,        Crime, 

(Arctophylax) 

Excess,  Exorbitance, 
(Inconstancy). 

6.  Corona  Borealis 

Judgment. 

Iniquity. 

7.  Hercules  . 

Courage. 

Ferocity,  Fury,  Cruelty. 
Slackness,  Debility, 
Pusillanimity  (Vio- 
lence). 

8.  Lyra 

Mnemosyne^     and 

Ignorance,  Inertia.  Besti- 

the        Ni  n  e 

ality  (Conspiracy). 

Muses,  her 

daughters, — the 

branches  of 
knowledge. 

9.  Cygnus    . 

Repentance. 

Self-love,  Uncleanness, 
Filthiness,  Immodesty, 
Wantonness. 

10.  Cassiopeia 

Simplicity. 

Boastfulness  on  the  one 
side,  Dissimulation  on 
the  other  (Vanity). 

II.  Perseus   . 

Diligence  or 

Torpor,  Idleness,  Inertia, 

Solicitude. 

Foolish  Occupation, 
Perturbation,  Vain  soli- 
citude. 

12.   Triptolemus 

Humanity  or 

Misanthropy,  Envy, 

Philanthropy. 

Malignity. 

11 


II 
*  '1 

1 1 


*  From  Lag.  p.  439. 


<iiipiiliiii!iiifc 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


260 

There  foUow  as  "  virtues "  :— Sagacity,   judicious 
election  or  choice,  affability,  magnanimity  (J^jla)  ; 
divine  enthusiasm  or  rapture  (Pegasus)  ;  hopefulness, 
faith  and  sincerity  (the  Triangle)  ;  virtuous  emulation, 
tolerance,  sociability  (and  friendship— the  PletaJes)  ; 
love  (peace  and  fntndshlp— Gemini)  ;   conversion  or 
emendation,  heroic  generosity  (or  magnanimity,  again 
—Leo);   continence,    equity    (and    justice— Z,»*w) ; 
sinarity  (observance  of  promises— 5cor?/o);  contempla- 
tion, the  love  of  solitude  (freedom  of  mind),  temperance 
(Aquarius)  ;  just  reserve  and  taciturnity,  tranquillity 
of  mind,  industry,  prudent  fear,  vigilance  for  the  state, 
kindliness,  liberality,  judicious  sagacity  (Hldra);  divine 
magic  (and  soothsaying),  abstinence  (the  Cup!),  the 
divine  parable  (the  sacred  mystery,— a/ro») ;  sincere 
piety  and  wise  religion  (the  Altar) ;  honour,  glory,  and, 
finally,  health,  security  and  repose,  as  the  due  reward 
of  the  virtues,  and  remuneration  for  zealous  work  and 

endurance.*  .  -^  • 

It  wiU  be  seen  that  the  list  is  redundant,  and  it  is 

more  so  in  the  text,  where  several  virtues  are  usually 
given  under  each  head.  Several  of  the  names  do  not 
denote  virtues  in  the  ordinary  sense  (e.g.  knowledge  of 
magic,  ability  to  interpret  the  divine  parables) :  they 
are  merely  qualities  which  it  is  desirable  for  the  good 
man  to  have.  Others  refer  to  qualities  which  could  not 
be  acquired  by  any  one  destitute  of  them  (e.g.  hope, 
love  piety),  while  others  represent  rather  the  outcome 
of  the  virtuous  Hfe  than  any  one  of  its  constituent 
elements,  e.g.  Knowledge,  Divine  Enthusiasm,  Con- 
templation, Honour.     There  remain  the  famihar  virtues 

1  Cf  also  p.  48«.  Another  li.t  of  virtaef  is  in  the  eulogium  on  Julius  in  the 
Oroiio  Con«la.oria  {Of.  La,,  i.  ..  47  «■)■  There  al«>  the  constellation.  typ.fy  d.f- 
ferent  virtues. 


II 


THE  PRACTICAL  LIFE 


261 


of  Greek  philosophy : — Courage ;  prudence  and  sagacity; 
temperance  (continence  and  abstinence)  ;  wisdom  (or 
the  love  of  truth)  ;  justice,  including  submission  to 
law,  active  justice  or  judgment,  and  equity  ;  sincerity, 
with  truthfulness,  simplicity,  faith,  the  observance  of 
promises ;  sociability  and  friendliness,  with  humanity, 
affability,  tolerance,  kindliness  ;  liberality  ;  magnanimity 
and  heroic  generosity  ;  tranquillity  or  gentleness.  More 
modern  are  the  virtues  of  solicitude,  diligence  or 
industry,   of  emulation,   and   of  love  of  solitude,   or 

**  Monachism."     There  is  accordingly  nothingj?/ .value i^ 

to  be  derived  for  systematic  ethics  from  this  or  from 
any  other  work  of  Bruno.  It  is  in  the.  digressions  from 
the  main  argument  that  his  philosophy  of  practical  life 
is  revealed.^ 

The  two  things  which  seemed  to  Bruno  for  his  time  Peace  and 
the  most  desirable  were  peace  and  freedom — freedom  ^'^'^'^' 
alike  of  thought  and  of  speech.     The  characteristics  of 
the  Church  which  he  consistently  condemned  were  on 
the  one  hand  its  violence,  the  dissension  and  strife  it 
stirred  up,  on  the  other  its  tyranny  over  mind  and 
tongue.     Hence  the  aim  of  the  moral  life,  from  the 
lower  plane  on  which  we  stand  in  the  Spaccio,  is  to 
secure  the  prosperity  of  the  state,  the  peaceful  common 
life  of  its  members,  and  the  avoidance  of  all  interference 
with   the   individual,  except   where   the  positive  end, 
security,  appears  endangered.     Of  the  nine  muses,  the 
daughters  of  Mnemosyne,^  Ethica  is  at  once  the  last 
born  and  the  most  worthy.      Her  task  is  to  institute 
religions,   to   establish   ceremonies,   to   posit  laws,  to 

^  In  the  De  Lamp.  Comb,  are  two  lists  of  virtues  and  vices,  after  Lully  j  with 
each  virtue  are  given  the  two  vicious  extremes,  in  Aristotelian  fashion.  {Op.  Lat. 
ii.  2.  257). 

2  Lag.  489.  1 8  {Sub  Lyra).  They  are  jlrithmetica,  GemetriOy  MusicA,  Logica,  Poesia^ 
Astrologiay  Physica,  Metaphysica.,  Ethica, 


Law. 


262 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Judgment 


execute  judgments,  with  prudence,  sagacity,  readiness, 
and  generous  phiknthropy  ;  to  approve,  confirm,  pre- 
serve, defend  whatever  is  well  instituted,  established, 
posited,  executed  ;   adapting,  as  far  as  may  be,  both 
passions  and  actions  to  the  worship  of  the  gods,  and 
the  common  life  of  men.— The  function  of  Law,  the 
daughter  of  wisdom,  is  to  prevent  the  powerful  from 
making  undue  use  of  their  pre-eminence  and  strength, 
and  in  other  respects  vigorously  to  protect  the  common 
Ufe  and  civil  intercourse  of  men.*     "  The  powerful  are 
to  be  sustained  by  the  weak,  the  feeble  are  not  to  be 
oppressed  by  the  strong,  tyrants  are  to  be  deposed,  just 
governors  and  kings  ordained  and  confirmed,  repubhcs 
fostered ;  violence  shall  not  tread  reason  under  foot, 
ignorance  not  despise   knowledge,  the  poor  shall  be 
suded  by  the  rich,  virtues  and  studies   necessary  or 
useful  to  the  community  be  promoted,  advanced,  main- 
tained.    No  one  is  to  be  put  into  a  place  of  power 
that  is  not  superior  in  merits,  by  force  of  virtue  and 
talent,  either  in  himself,  which  is  rare  and  almost  im- 
possible, or  through  communication  with  and  counsel  of 
others,  which  is  due,  ordinary  and  necessary.     The  two 
hands  by  which  any  law  is  strong  to  bind  are  jusltce 
and   possibility,   one    moderated    by    the    other,    for 
although  many  things  are  possible  that  are  not  just, 
nothing  is  just  that  is  not  possible.     Whether  it  come 
from  heaven  or  from  the  earth,  no  institution  or  law 
ought  to  be  approved  or  accepted  which  does  not  tend 
to  the  highest  end,  viz.  the  direction  of  our  minds  and 
reform  of  our   natures  so   that  they  produce   fruits 
necessary  or  useful  for  human  intercourse."  ^     7«^£- 
ment  shall  make  a  scale  of  virtues  and  of  crimes,  the 
greatest  in  either  class  being  that  which  affects  the 


^  Lag.  p.  461.  II  ff. 


•  Pp.  461,  461. 


II 


THE  ROMAN  PEOPLE 


263 


Republic  as  a  whole  ;  next  that  which  affects  other 
individuals  than  the  agent ;  a  crime  committed  between 
two  who  are  in  accord  is  hardly  a  crime,  while  there  is 
no  crime  if  the  fault  remains  in  the  individual — does  not 
proceed  to  bad  example  or  to  bad  deed.  Repentance  is 
to  be  approved  by  it,  but  not  set  upon  the  same  level 
as  innocence ;  ^  belief  z,nd  opinion^  but  not  placed  so  high 
as  deeds  and  work;  confession  and  admission  of  fault, 
but  not  as  correction  and  abstention.  It  shall  not  place 
one  who  to  no  purpose  mortifies  the  flesh  on  a  level 
with  one  who  bridles  his  spirit,  nor  compare  one  who  is 
a  useless  solitary  with  another  who  is  in  profitable 
intercourse^  with  his  fellows,  nor  applaud  so  highly 
one  who,  perhaps  unnecessarily,  subdues  his  desires,  as 
another,  who  refrains  from  evil-speaking  and  from 
evil-doing  ;  not  make  so  great  a  triumph  over  one  who 
has  healed  a  base,  useless  cripple,  worth  little  if  any 
more  when  whole  than  maimed,  as  over  another  who 
has  liberated  his  fatherland,  or  reformed  a  mind 
diseased.^  The  Roman  people  was  the  type  of  the  best- 
governed  state,  "  more  bridled  and  restrained  from  the 
vices  of  incivility  and  barbarity,  more  refined  and 
willing  for  generous  undertakings  than  any  other  ;  and 
as  their  law  and  religion  were,  so  were  their  customs 
and  deeds,  so  their  honour  and  happiness."  How 
different  from  the  pedants  of  the  Church,  who  flourish 
throughout  Europe  :  while  saluting  with  peace  they 
bring  wherever  they  enter  in  the  sword  of  division,  and 
the  fire  of  dispersion  ;  taking  son  from  father,  neigh- 
bour from  neighbour,  citizen  from  fatherland,  and 
causing  other  divorces  more  abhorrent  and  contrary  to 
all  nature  and  law  ;  calling  themselves  ministers  of  one 

'  In  contrast  with  St.  Luke  15.  7.  ^  Reading  conversation  for  conservation. 

»  Lag.  pp.  464,  465. 


1 


II 


•-*-«%. ,  • . . .« •«•• 


264 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


II 


THE  JEWS 


265 


who  raises  the  dead  and  heals  the  sick,  they  more  than 
all  others  on  the  earth  are  maimers  of  the  sound,  and 
slayers  of  the  living,  not  so  much  with  fire  and  sword, 
as  with  the  tongue  of  malice.* 
The  scale..        Under   the   Scales,   Bruno   describes   some   of  the 
reforms  he  believes  necessary  :    in  courts,  offices  and 
honours   are   for   the   future   to   go    by    merit;    "in 
republics,  the  just  are  to  preside,  the  wealthy  to  con- 
tribute, the  learned  to  teach,  the  prudent  to  guide,  the 
brave  to  fight,  those  that  have  judgment  to  counsel,  those 
that  have  authority  to  command  ;  in  states,  the  scales 
represent  the  keeping  of  contracts  of  peace,  confedera- 
tions, leagues,  the  careful  weighing  of  action  before- 
hand ;  in  individuals  the  weighing  of  what  each  wishes 
with  what  he  knows,  of  what  he  knows  with  what  he 
can,  of  what  he  wishes,  knows,  and  can  with  what  he 
ought ;    of  what  he  wishes,  knows,  can,  and  ought, 
with  what  he  is,  does,  has,  and  expects."  ^ 

Underlying  this  cult  of  humanity  one  cannot  but 
feel  the  robust  naturalism  of  the  Renaissance,  which  in 
Bruno's  mind  is  apart  altogether   from   the   mystical 
exclusive    intellectualism    of    his    more    characteristic 
philosophy.     It  is  with  man  as  a  natural  being,  living 
out  his  earthly  life,  and  gathering  such  fruits  as  may  be 
of  kindliness  and  love  from  his  fellow-creatures,  that 
the  practical  philosophy  is  concerned.      The  religion 
attacked  was  one  that  struck  at  the  root  of  this  human 
love,  and  made  of  earth  a  purgatory  for  the  sake  of  the 
uncertain  life  to  come.     Hence  the  emphasis  laid  on 
Sincerity,    sincerity  Jaithfulncss,  or  truthfulness,  as  high  among  the 
virtues.     "  Without  it  every  contract  is  uncertain  and 
doubtful,  all  intercourse  is  dissolved,  all  social  life  at 
an  end."     Bruno  is  as  rigid  as  Kant  in  regard  to  the 


keeping  of  faith  ;  even  promises  made  to  the  wicked 
may  not  be  broken.  It  was  "  a  law  of  some  Jew  or 
Saracen,  brutal  and  barbarian,  not  of  civilised  and  heroic 
Greek  or  Roman,  that  sometimes,  and  with  certain 
kinds  of  people,  faith  might  be  pledged  for  individual 
gain,  and  for  an  opportunity  of  deception,  making  it 
the  servant  of  tyranny  and  treachery."  ^ 

The  antipathy  of  Bruno  towards  the  Jews  is  to  be 
explained  by  the  same  principle  of  social  life  and  pro- 
gress ;  it  is  not,  as  Lagarde  supposes,^  an  offspring  of 
his  hatred  towards  the  Church,  regarded  as  a  direct 
descendant  of  Judaism.  So  far  as  it  is  not  an  expres- 
sion of  an  unreasoning  anti-Semitic  wave  of  feeling, 
such  as  occasionally  overwhelms  some  of  the  European 
peoples,  it  may  have  had  three  grounds  :  the  reputed 
avarice  of  the  Jew  :  ^  his  exclusiveness,  unsociability  ; — 
*'a  race  always  base,  servile,  mercenary,  solitary,  in- 
communicative, shunning  intercourse  with  the  Gentiles, 
whom  they  brutally  despise,  and  by  whom  in  their 
turn,  and  with  good  reason,  they  are  contemned  "  :* — 
or  his  religion,  which  appeared  to  Bruno  a  corruption 
of  the  nobler  Egyptian  religion.  Thus  in  Spaccio  ^  the 
punishment  of  the  children  for  the  sins  of  the  fathers  is 
said  to  be  found  only  among  Barbarians,  and  first  among 
the  Jews,  "  a  race  so  pestilent,  leprous,  and  generally 
pernicious  that  it  should  be  effaced  from  the  earth."  * 

Temperance,  as  a  virtue,  is  rather  the  peace  of  mind  Temper- 
that  goes  with  civilisation — urbanity — than  the  more 
physical  virtue :  its  opposites  are  intemperance,  excess, 
asperity,  savagery,  barbarity.     "  It  is  through  intemper- 

'  Pp.  5*o»  5*1-  *  Op.  at.  p.  794. 

'  Compare  the  picture  of  Avarice  in  Spaccio^  pp.  477,  478,  with  Shakespeare's 
^yioci.  4  Ca6ala,  p.  576.  31.  »  P.  500.  40. 

•  Cf.  p.  535.  4,  and  541.  35, — "  jSTcremento  de  P  Egitto"  which  may  not  mean  more 
than  outgrowth  or  offshoot  of  Egypt,  although  it  has  been  interpreted  otherwise. 


I 


ance. 


Il 

i 


V 


-     «M  W*-M  « 


&- 


266 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


The 

Golden 

Age. 


ancc  in  sensual  and  in  intellectual  passions  that  families, 
republics,  civil  societies,  the  world,  are  dissolved,  dis- 
ordered, destroyed,  swallowed  up."^     Again,  Bruno's 
unorthodox  standpoint  with  regard  to  the  vows  of  chastity 
and  of  celibacy  taken  by  nuns  and  priests  is  part  of  a 
healthy  reaction  towards  naturalism  from  the  false  senti- 
ment which  condemned  as  unholy  whatever  pertained 
to  the  natural  man.     The  place  of  Virgo  is  taken  by 
chastity,  continence,  modesty,  shame;  the  contrasting 
vices  being  lust,  incontinence,  shamelessness.      "It  is 
through  these,"  Bruno  adds,  "  that  virginity  becomes  a 
virtue.     In  itself  it  is  neither  virtue  nor  vice,  implies  no 
goodness,  dignity,  or  merit,  and  when  it  resists  the  com- 
mand of  nature  it  becomes  a  wrong,  an  impotence,  a 
folly,  madness  express  ;  while  if  it  is  in  compliance  with 
some   urgent   reason,  it   is  called   continence,  and   has 
the  essence  of  virtue,   because  it  participates  in  that 
courage  and  contempt  for  pleasure  which  is  not  vain 
or  worthless,  but  benefits  human  intercourse  and  brings 
honourable  satisfaction  to  others."  ^     "  The  laws  of  the 
wise  do  not  forbid  love,  but  irrational  love  ;  the  syco- 
phancies  of  the  foolish  prescribe,  without  reason,  limits 
to  reason,  and  condemn  the  law  of  nature  ;  the  most 
corrupt  of  them  call  //  corrupt,  because  by  it  they  are 
not  raised  above  nature  to  become  heroic  spirits,  but  are 
depraved,  contrary  to  nature  and  below  all  worth,  to 
become  brutes."  * 

In  the  third  dialogue  of  the  Spaccio  is  a  digression 

on  Otiuniy  Idleness,  and  the  Golden  Age,  which  had 

been  brought  into  popularity  by  the  pastoral  poem  of 

Tasso,  the  Jminta,  and  its  imitators  {e.g.  Guarini  in  the 

1  p.  542. 18. 

«  Sfaccioy  p.  526.  1 1  ;  Clemens*  translation  {of.  cit.  p.  172)  gives  this  saying  an 
unnecessarily  sinister  meaning. 

»  De  yincuiis  in  gentrt  {Op.  Lat.  iii.  p.  697.  26). 


A 


II 


THE  AGE  OF  GOLD 


267 


Pastor  Fido).  Otium  presses  its  claim  to  a  place  in  the 
heavens  as  being  more  truly  a  virtue  than  solicitude  or 
strenuous  effort,  to  which  the  place  of  Perseus  had  been 
given.  Its  chief  argument  is  that  through  it  the  golden 
age  had  been  instituted  and  maintained,  by  the  law  of 
idleness  which  is  the  law  of  nature,  while  it  was  through 
solicitude,  with  its  following  of  vainglory,  contempt  of 
others,  violence,  oppression,  torment,  fear,  and  death, 
that  the  age  had  departed.  "  All  praise  the  fair  age  of 
gold,  when  I  kept  minds  quiet  and  peaceful,  safe  from 
this  virtuous  goddess  of  yours.  For  their  bodies, 
hunger  was  sufficient  sauce  to  make  a  delicious  and 
satisfying  repast  out  of  acorns,  apples,  chestnuts,  peaches, 
and  roots,  which  benign  nature  administered  at  a  time 
when  such  food  was  the  best  nourishment  for  them,  gave 
them  most  pleasure,  and  kept  them  longest  in  life,  which 
the  many  artificial  sauces  that  industry  and  zeal  have 
discovered  cannot  do."  ^  Industry  had  introduced 
property,  and  divided  up  not  only  the  earth,  which  is 
given  to  all  its  children,  but  also  the  sea,  and  perhaps 
the  air  as  well ;  so  that  instead  of  sufficiency  for  all 
there  is  too  much  for  some  and  too  little  for  others. 
It  had  introduced  an  unnatural  inequality,  and  confused 
together  peoples  whom  nature  had  intended  to  live  apart, 
with  the  consequence  that  the  vices  of  one  race  were 
being  implanted  upon  those  of  others.  The  right  of 
the  stronger  had  taken  the  place  of  the  law  of  nature, 
violence  that  of  the  peace  of  nature,  which  are  the  law 
and  peace  of  God. 

O  bella  eta  de  Foro 

Non  gia  perche  di  latte 

Sen  corse  il  fi ume,  et  stillo  mele  il  bosco. 


\ 


t 


^  Lag.  p.  503.  20. 


\\ 


ism 


ifl 


.;! 


ii 


nl 


268  GIORDANO  BRUNO  part 

Ma  'n  primavera  eterna 

Ch'  hora  s'  accende  ct  verna 

Rise  di  luce,  et  di  sereno  il  cielo, 

Ne  porto  peregrine 

O'  guerra,  o  merce  a'  V  altrui  lidi  il  pino. 

•  •  •  •  • 

Ma  legge  aurea  et  felice 
Che  natura  scolpi.     S'  ei  piace,  ei  lice.^ 

Bruno  was  no  imperialist.  Nature  seemed  to  him 
to  have  fixed  definite  boundaries  to  the  extension  of  the 
difltrent  races,  by  which  the  special  genius  of  each  was 
kept  pure.  In  the  Cena  (126.  9)  Tiphys  and  his 
successors  (Columbus,  Vespucci,  and  others  are  meant, 
although  not  named)  are  said  to  have  "  discovered  means 
of  disturbing  the  peace  of  peoples,  violating  the  natural 
trend  of  the  genius  of  countries,  confounding  what  fore- 
seeing nature  had  distinguished,  doubling,  through  com- 
merce, evil  feelings,  adding  the  vices  of  one  race  to  those 
of  another,  propagating  new  incitements,  instruments, 
methods  of  tyranny  and  assassination,  which  in  time, 
by  the  natural  vicissitude  of  things,  would  recoil  upon 
our  own  heads."*  It  was  really,  he  thought,  for  the 
advantage  of  men  themselves  that  the  world-regions 
should  be  kept  as  distinct  in  their  usages  and  customs 
as  they  are  physically  distinct  by  the  natural  divisions 
of  mountains  and  tracts  of  sea.  From  region  to  region, 
vice  and  the  poison  of  perverse  laws  and  religions,  the 
materials  of  discord  and  extermination,  were  propagated 
and  disseminated  to  the  suflTocation  of  every  good  fruit ; 
there  were  no  advantages  which  could  compare  with 

*  From  Tasso's  Aminta,  act  i.  tub  fn. — Bruno  hardly  ever  mentions  the 
authors  of  the  poems  in  his  ethical  works,  so  that  the  layman  in  literature  has  great 
difficulty  in  knowing  which,  if  any,  are  his  own.  Thus  Rixner  and  Siber  translate 
the  above,  and  give  it  as  Bruno's  {op,  cit.  p.  230).  In  the  fourth  line  Bruno  readi 
**  E  "n  "  for  "  Ma  'n."  «  Cf,  Injinito,  p.  398.  16. 


K' 


T--<^^-<.*-'-  ' 


II 


THE  EVILS  OF  COMMERCE 


269 


these  evils.*  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  colonists 
of  the  day  were  the  Spaniards,  with  the  corruption  and 
cruelty  of  whose  rule  Italians  were  only  too  familiar ; 
and  their  misdeeds  were  far  greater  in  the  new  world. 

The  age  of  gold,  however,  of  idleness,  and  peaceful  Progress. 
happiness,  was  far  from  Bruno's  ideal ;  the  reply  of 
Momus  to  Otium  showed  that  it  had  not  made  men 
virtuous  in  the  golden  age  any  more  than  the  brutes 
were  virtuous  now — that  men  were  perhaps  originally 
more  stupid  than  many  of  the  latter;  but  in  their 
emulation  of  divine  actions  and  their  attempts  to 
satisfy  spiritual  desires,  difficulties  had  arisen  and  needs 
sprung  up  ;  through  these  their  minds  were  sharpened, 
industries  had  been  discovered,  arts  invented ;  and  so 
from  day  to  day  out  of  the  depth  of  the  human 
intellect  necessity  brought  forth  new  and  marvellous 
inventions.*  Thus  more  and  more  they  advance, 
through  pressing  and  earnest  occupation,  from  the 
bestial  nature,  and  approximate  more  and  more  nearly 
to  the  divine.  That  injustice  and  vice  increase  along 
with  industries  is  only  a  corollary  of  the  increase  of 
justice  and  of  virtue.  If  oxen  or  apes  had  as  much 
virtue  and  spirit  as  man,  they  would  have  the  same 
apprehensions,  the  same  passions,  and  the  same  vices. 
So  in  men  those  that  have  in  them  somewhat  of  the 
pig  nature,  or  of  the  ass  or  ox  nature,  are  certainly 
less  wicked,  not  infected  by  so  criminal  vices  as  more 
highly  developed  men  might  be  ;  but  they  are  not  for 
that  more  virtuous,  unless  the  brutes  also  are  more 
virtuous  than  men,  being  infected  with  fewer  vices.^ 
In  this  generous  conception  of  human  progress,  and  of 
its  spur — solicitude,  necessity,  pain — Bruno  is  quite  at 
one  with  modern  theories  of  human  evolution  ;  it  can 

1  Cf.  De  Imm.  vii.  16  {Op.  Lat,  i.  2.  p.  278).        2  L^g  p   ^^^^  5         3  p   ^^^    ^^ 


'/A 


270 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Man  and 
the  animals. 


Ill 


I 


hardly    be    said,    however,    that    he    anticipated    the 
Evolution,   evolution  theory  so  far  as  it  involves  an  identity  of 
origin  for  human  beings  and  lower  animals.     The  idea 
that  different  human   beings  express   different   animal 
types  was  not  a  new  one.     It  means  in  Bruno  that  such 
men  have  animal  souls,  but  this  is  not  because  their 
bodies  have  reverted  to^the  animal  type.     It  is  the  soul 
that  moulds  the  body  and  gives,  in  these  cases,  the 
animal  expression  to  the  face — the  look  of  wolf,  or 
bear,  or  fox,  or  serpent.     There  is  no  question  of  a 
physical  continuity  between  animal  and  man,  but  there  is 
a  psychical  continuity ^  since  a  soul  which  is  that  of  an 
animal  in  one  generation  may  become  that  of  a  man  in 
another.^     A  much  nearer  approach  to  the  evolution- 
theory  is  to  be  found  in  the  Cabala^  where  it  is  said 
that  if  a  serpent  could  have  its  head  moulded  into  that 
of  a  man,  its  tongue  widened,  its  shoulders  broadened, 
arms  and  hands  branching  out  from  it,  and,  where  the 
tail  now  is,  a  pair  of  legs,  it  would  think,  look,  breathe, 
speak,  work,  and  walk  just  as  a  man  does,  for  it  would 
be   nothing   but   a   man.     Or   if  the   reverse   process 
occurred,  in  a  man  (involution)^  in  place  of  talking  he 
would  hiss,  in  place  of  walking  he  would  creep,  in  place 
of  building  a  palace  he  would  hollow  out  a  hiding-place 
for  himself.     This  is  not,  however,  because  the  body  of 
the  one  had  been  transformed  into  that  of  the  other 
animal,  function  following  structure ;  the  soul  with  all 
its  qualities  is  unchanged — it  is  one  and  the  same  in 
both  ;  the  differences  are  only  in  the  power  of  expres- 
sion.    A  serpent  or  any  other  animal  might  have  a 
higher  intelligence  than  man,  yet  remain  inferior  to  him 
through   poverty   of    instruments.     If    man   had   not 
hands,  but  two  feet  in  their  stead,  however  high  his 


^  FUe  in/ray  ch.  vii.,  re  transmigration. 


*  Lag.  p.  586.  XI. 


if'  fr 


II 


THE  GOODS  OF  THE  SOUL 


271 


intelligence,  family  and  social  life  would  have  been  no 
more  enduring  with  him  than  with  the  horse,  the  deer, 
or  the  pig  ;  it  would  only  have  exposed  him  to  greater 
danger  and  more  certain  ruin ;  and,  in  consequence, 
there  would  have  been  none  of  the  institutions  of 
doctrine,  the  inventions  of  discipline,  the  congregations 
of  citizens,  the  raising  of  edifices  and  other  things  that 
represent  human  greatness  and  excellence,  and  make 
man  the  invincible  superior  over  all  other  species.  All 
this  is  referred  not  so  much  to  his  mind  as  to  his  hand, 
the  organ  of  organs.^  It  is  in  the  development  of  the 
hand,  also,  that  modern  anthropology  has  sought  one  of 
the  chief  conditions  of  human  development.  It  is 
clear,  however,  that  in  these  theories  there  are  two 
positions  not  distinctly  separated  :  one  that  the  soul 
gives  form  to  the  body,  the  other  that  all  difference 
comes  from  the  body,  the  soul  remaining  apart,  and  in 
its  essence  untouched  by  the  changes  its  body  undergoes. 
We  shall  have  to  return  to  this  question  in  the  follow- 
ing chapter. 

Another  digression  occurs  under  Hercules,^  where  Riches  and 
Riches,  Poverty,  and  Fortune  contend  for  the  place  of  ^^^^^^' 
honour  that  is  finally  given  to  Courage  or  Fortitude. 
Such  personifications  of  the  virtues  had  been  familiarised 
in  Italian  philosophy  by  Petrarca  (Remedium  utriusque 
fortunae\  but  Bruno  refers  back  to  Grantor 's  discussion 
of  the  relative  value  for  the  soul  of  Riches  and  other 
goods.'  In  our  dialogue  Riches  is  decided  to  be 
neither  good  nor  bad  in  itself ;  it  may  be  indifferently 

1  Lag.  p.  586.  35  fF.  2  j},^  p^  ^5^^  7^ 

•  Sextus  Math,  xi.  51-58.  Grantor  was  one  of  the  Old  Academy,  and  wrote  a 
commentary  on  the  T'maeusy  as  well  as  some  ethical  works,  of  which  that  "  On 
Mourning  "  seems  to  have  been  most  in  vogue.  The  goods  of  the  soul  were  placed 
in  the  following  order  of  merit  by  him  : — Virtue,  Health,  Pleasure,  Riches. — Vide 
Zeller,  ii.  696. 


272 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


)i 


II 


1 


li' 


II,' 


either,  according  to  its  possessor  :  therefore  it  is  to 
incur  neither  disgrace  nor  honour,  neither  be  condemned 
to  Hades,  nor  raised  up  to  Heaven,  but  to  wander 
from  place  to  place.  It  shall  be  found  by  no  one  who 
has  not  first  repented  of  his  good  mind  and  healthy 
brain  ;  he  must  give  up,  according  to  Momus,  all 
thought  of  prudence,  "  not  trusting  in  Heaven,  regard- 
ing not  justice  or  injustice,  honour  or  shame,  calm  or 
storm,  but  committing  all  to  chance.  As  a  general 
rule  Riches  are  to  go  to  the  most  insensate,  the  most 
foolish,  careless,  silly — to  beware  of  the  wise  as  of  fire. 
Poverty,  on  the  other  hand  (in  inferior  or  corporeal 
goods),  may  be  conjoined  with  riches  in  goods  of  the 
mind,  as  riches  in  inferior  goods  may  never  be,  for 
no  one  that  is  wise  or  wishes  to  gain  knowledge 
can  ever  achieve  great  things  by  their  means.  To 
philosophy  Riches  are  an  impediment,  while  Poverty 
offers  it  a  safe  and  easy  road.  He  will  be  great  who  in 
poverty  is  rich  because  he  is  content ;  and  he  is  a  slave 
who  in  riches  is  poor  because  he  has  not  enough.  Not 
he  that  has  little  but  he  that  desires  much  is  really 
poor.  The  friends  of  Poverty  are  open,  the  enemies  of 
Riches  are  secret ;  the  poor  man  by  repressing  desire 
may  rival  Jove  in  happiness;  the  rich,  ever  spreading 
more  and  more  widely  the  nets  of  cupidity,  is  plunged 

Avarice,  more  and  more  into  depths  of  misery.  Avarice  is  the 
dark  side,  the  shadow,  of  both  Riches  and  Poverty, 
ever  fleeing  Poverty  and  pursuing  Riches,  but  ever 
eluded  by  the  latter,  and  ever  caught  by  the  former  ; 
far  from  Poverty  in  reality,  she  is  ever  close  by  it  in 
imagination ;  it  is  this  darkness  or  shadow  that  make 
Poverty  and  Riches  alike  to  be  evil.  One  may  be 
poor  in  virtue  of  affect  (feeling,  emotion)  as  well  as 

Fortune.  Jn  virtue  of  effect  (actual,   material   want).     Fortune 


II 


II 


FORTITUDE 


273 


also  is  rejected,  in  spite  of  her  claim  to  be  absolutely 
just ;  as  all  things  are  ultimately  or  really  one,  no  part 
of  the  world,  she  claims,  should  be  treated  as  more 
worthy  or  imworthy  than  another,  and  fortune  regards 
all  equally,  or  does  not  respect  any  particular  person 
more  than  another,  which  is  really  justice  ! 

To  the  place  for  which  these  have  striven  succeeds  Courage. 
Fortitude^  the  servant  of  the  higher  virtues  :  "  Constant 
and  brave  must  be  he  that  administers  judgment,  with 
prudence,  by  the  law,  and  according  to  truth.  He 
shall  be  guided  by  the  book  in  which  is  the  catalogue 
of  the  things  the  brave  man  ought  not  to  fear,  viz.  : 
those  which  do  not  make  him  worse,  as  hunger, 
nakedness,  thirst,  pain,  poverty,  solitude,  persecution, 
death  ;  and  that  of  other  things  which,  as  they  make 
him  worse,  must  be  avoided  at  all  cost, — gross  ignor- 
ance, injustice,  infidelity,  lying,  avarice,  and  the  rest.^ 
Beside  Fortitude  may  be  placed  Simplicity^  between  simplicity, 
the  vicious  extremes  of  Boastfulness  on  the  one  hand 
and  Dissimulation  on  the  other,  the  latter  being  the 
less  hateful  of  the  two  :  '*  sometimes  even  the  gods 
must  make  use  of  it,  and  to  escape  envy,  reproach, 
outrage.  Prudence  is  wont  to  cover  Truth  with  her 
vestments.'*  Simplicity  is  pleasing  to  the  gods,  for  it 
has  in  a  manner  the  likeness  of  the  divine  countenance,  Seif-con- 
being  always  the  same  and  unconscious  of  itself.  That 
which  reflects  upon  or  is  conscious  of  itself,  makes  itself 
in  a  sense  to  be  many,  to  be  other  and  other,  becoming 
both  object  and  faculty,  the  knowing  and  the  knowable, 
whereas  in  the  act  of  intelligence  many  things  concur  in 
one.  The  most  simple  intelligence  does  not  know  itself, 
by  reflection,  because  it  is  absolute,  pure  light :  and  again 
it  alone  knows  itself,  negatively,  for  it  cannot  be  hidden.' 


t 


sciottsness. 


*  Lag.  p.  487,  488, 


*  P.  492  [Cassiopoeia], 
T 


»  P.  493. 


274 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Solicitude. 


III! 


Truth. 


HI' 


i 


The  transition  from  ordinary  morality, — the  virtue 
of  the  everyday  life  of  human  society, — to  the  divine 
aspiration  of  the  ^*  heroic  "  soul,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
virtue  of  Solicitudey  and  the  primary  triad  of  Truths 
Prudence^   and    Wisdom.      On   the   feet   of  Solicitude 
(Diligence,  Endurance)  "  are  the  winged  sandals  of  the 
divine  impetus,  through  which  she  leaves  beneath  her 
the  vulgar  good,  and  contemns  the  soft  caresses  of 
pleasures,  that,  like  insidious  sirens,  try  to  delay  her  in 
the  pursuit  of  the  works  she  seeks."     On  labour  and 
fatigue  she  nurses  the  generous  mind, — enables  it  not 
only  to  subdue  itself,  but  to  attain  the  highest  state — 
that  of  not  feeling  fatigue,  or  pain,  when  fatigue  or  pain 
must  be  undergone.     In  noble  work  fatigue  is  pleasure 
and  not  fatigue  to  itself,  but  in  other  than  in  such  work 
or  virtuous  activity,  it  is  not  pleasure  to  itself,   but 
intolerable  fatigue.       "Be  with  me"   Solicitude  con- 
cludes,   "generous,    heroic,   anxious    Fear^    stimulate 
me   that   I  do  not  perish  from  the  number   of  the 
illustrious   before   I   perish   from   that  of  the  living. 
Before  torpor  or  death  take  from  me  my  hands,  grant 
that  the  glory  of  my  works  may  not  be  in  their  power 
to  take.     Anxiety y  grant  that  the  roof  be  finished  before 
the  rain  come :    that  the   windows  be  whole  before 
the  winds   of  treacherous   and   unquiet  winter   blow. 
Memory  of  a  well-spent  life,  thou  shalt  make  old  age 
and  death  destroy  my  soul  before  they  disturb  it.     Fear 
of  losing  the  glory  acquired  in    my   life   shall  make 
old  age  and   death   not   bitter  to  me,  but  dear  and 
desirable."     The  end  which  this  strenuous  virtue  seeks 
is  that  of  the  intellectual  triad  placed  in  the  highest  part 
of  the  heavens   by  the   gods, — Truth,  Prudence  and 
Wisdom,  which   in    reality  are    one   and    the   same.^ 

1  Fide  Lag.  pp.  457  fF. 


II 


TRUTH,  PRUDENCE,  WISDOM        275 


Truth  is  the  unity  which  stands  above  the  all  of 
things,  and  the  goodness  which  is  pre-eminent  over 
all  things,  for  being,  goodness,  and  truth  are  one  : — in 
other  words,  it  is  the  Eleatic  One, — the  "impliciL 
universe," — of  the  metaphysical  works.^  It  is  iefore 
things  as  cause  and  principle,  and  things  have  dependence 
upon  it :  it  is  in  things,  as  their  substance,  and  through 
it  things  subsist  :  it  is  after  things,  for  through  it 
things  are  known  without  error.  These  three  aspects 
represent  metaphysical,  physical,  and  logical  truth  re- 
spectively. What  is  presented  to  our  senses  and  may 
be  grasped  by  our  intelligence,  is  not  the  highest  truth, 
but  only  the  figure,  image,  resplendence,  or  appearance 
of  it.  Prudence  also  is  both  above  and  in  us.  It  is 
above  as  Providence,  when  it  is  also  truth  itself,  and 
there  Liberty,  Necessity,  Essence,  Entity,  all  are  one, 
the  Absolute.  In  us  Prudence  is  the  virtue  of  the 
consultative  and  deliberative  faculty, — "  it  is  a  principal 
form  of  reason  dealing  with  the  universal  and  the 
particular.^  has  for  its  maid-servant  dialectics^  and  for 
guide  acquired  wisdom,  vulgarly  called  metaphysics^ 
which  deals  with  the  universals  of  all  things  that  fall 
within  human  knowledge."  ^  So  too  Wisdom,  Sophia^ 
is  at  once  supra-mundane, — when  it  is  one  with  Provi- 
dence itself,  light  and  eye  in  one, — and  mundane, 
inferior,  not  truth  itself,  wisdom  itself,  but  participant 
in  truth  and  in  wisdom, — an  eye  that  is  illuminated  by 
a  foreign  light.  The  first  is  invisible,  infigurable, 
incomprehensible  ;  the  second  is  figured  in  the  heavens, 
reflected  in  finite  minds,  communicated  by  words.  The 
earthly  or  inferior  forms,  however,  as  Bruno  makes 
clear,  are  of  value  only  for  the  sake  of  the  higher  unity. 


^  Vide  supra^  ch.  2.  and  cf.  Cabala^  Lag.  578.  35. 
2  A  reminiscence  of  Aristotle's  <f>pbvri<m.  ^  Lag.  458.  459. 


276 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART  II 


to  attain  which  is  the  real  end  of  the  philosophic  life. 
"  He  who  pretends  to  know  what  he  does  not  know, 
says  Wisdom,  is  a  wanton  Sophist :  he  who  denies 
knowing  what  he  knows,  is  ungrateful  to  the  Active 
Intelligence,  insults  truth,  and  outrages  me,  as  do  all 
those  who  seek  me — not  for  myself,  or  for  the  supreme 
virtue  and  love  of  that  divinity  which  is  above  every 
Jupiter  and  every  heaven, — but  either  to  sell  me  for 
money,  honour,  or  other  gain,  or  to  be  known  rather 
than  to  know,  or  to  detract  from  and  be  able  to  destroy 
the  happiness  of  others.  .  .  .  They  that  seek  me  for 
love  of  the  supreme  and  first  truth  are  wise,  and  there- 
fore blessed."^  Bruno's  Summum  Bonum  is  therefore 
knowledge^  an  intellectual  comprehension  of  the  All  of 
things,  as  it  is  in  the  supreme  Unity  or  source  of  the 
world.  It  is  for  the  sake  of  this  end  of  the  few,  the 
wise,  that  the  many,  the  vulgar,  and  foolish,  are  to  be 
kept  at  peace,  in  harmony  with  one  another,  following 
obediently  their  higher  guides  in  religion  or  in  the  state. 
There  is  not  in  Bruno  any  more  than  in  Spinoza  any 
sense  of  the  infinite  worth,  or  the  infinite  pitifulness  of 
man  as  an  earth-born  creature  of  hopes  and  fears, 
creeping  towards  the  light,  with  the  clogging  darkness 
behind,  groping  in  childish  terror  and  childish  trust,  for 
the  hand  of  a  loving,  human  God.  Therefore,  although 
he  lived  in  the  midst  of  the  Reformation,  its  true  mean- 
ing passed  him  by. 

^  Lag.  459.  460. 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE    HIGHER    LIFE 


We  now  turn  to  the  higher  moral  life,  which  is  at  the 
same  time  the  religious  life,  of  the  heroic  soul  in  its 
struggle  towards  perfection.  This  perfection  consists 
in  comprehension  of  the  world  as  infinitely  perfect, 
in  the  union  with  God  as  the  source  from  which  the 
world  flows,  the  spirit  in  which  it  lives,  and  in  the  Love 
of  God  as  at  once  infinite  beauty  and  infinite  goodness. 

We  have  seen  that  there  are  to  Bruno,  as  to  Plato 
and  to  Aristotle,  two  classes  of  men,  the  "  vulgar  "  and 
the  "  heroic,"  ^  the  lower  or  subject,  and  the  upper  or 
ruling  classes  :  as  in  each  of  us  there  are  two  principles, 
a  higher,  intellect  or  reason  or  mind,  and  a  lower,  sense 
and  sensual  passion.  The  danger  is  as  great  to  the 
world  when  the  lower  class  attempts  to  usurp  the  place 
of  the  higher,  as  it  is  to  the  individual  soul  when  passion 
overwhelms  reason.  The  spread  of  pedantry,  in  the 
universities  and  in  the  churches,  greater  in  his  time  and 
more  menacing  to  human  progress  than  it  had  ever 
been,  was  an  illustration  to  Bruno's  eye  of  the  results 
ensuing  when  lower  minds  tampered  with  divine 
knowledge.^ 

The  heroic  soul  is  raised  by  the  divine  spirit  within 

^  There  is  a  mingling,  in  Bruno's  use  of  this  word,  of  meanings  derived  from  ffpws, 
and  from  Plato's  ^pgjs.  2  L^g^  y^j^  ^^  ff^ 

277 


lie 


^ 


f 


si*    I' 


m 


iv 


278 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


it  out  of  the  turmoil  of  the  constant  change  and 
vicissitude,  to  which  the  vulgar  soul  is,  in  common  with 
all  living  things,  subjected.  "  The  beginning,  middle, 
and  end,  birth,  growth,  and  perfection  of  all  earthly 
things  are  from  contraries,  through  contraries,  in  con- 
traries, and  to  contraries  ;  and  where  there  is  contrariety, 
there  is  also  action,  reaction,  movement,  diversity, 
multitude,  order,  degrees,  succession,  change."  *'  There 
is  never  any  pleasure,"  we  read  elsewhere,  "without 
some  bitterness ; — nay,  if  there  were  not  the  bitter  in 
things,  there  would  not  be  the  pleasurable,  for  fatigue 
makes  us  to  find  pleasure  in  repose,  separation  causes  us 
to  find  joy  in  union,  and  so  everywhere  we  find  that 
one  contrary  is  the  reason  of  another  being  desired  and 
pleasing  : "  ^  and  so  it  is  with  pain.  None,  therefore, 
are  ever  satisfied  with  their  state,  except  the  unfeeling 
or  the  foolish  who  have  no  knowledge  of  their  own  ill, 
but  enjoy  the  present  without  fear  of  the  future,  can 
find  rest  in  what  is,  and  have  no  feeling  or  desire  for 
what  might  be  :  **  in  short  have  no  sense  of  contrariety, 
which  is  figured  by  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil.^"  Ignorance  is  the  mother  of  sensual 
happiness  and  joy ;  hence  "  the  heroic  love  (in  its 
beginning)  is  a  torment,  for  it  does  not  rest  in  the 
present,  as  does  sensual  love,  but  feels  ambition,  emula- 
tion, suspicious  fear  for  the  future,  the  absent,  the 
contrary."  Yet  the  wise  man  is  neither  happy  nor 
miserable,  —  knowing  that  good  and  evil  are  alike 
relative,  alike  fading  and  temporary  things,  he  is  neither 
dismayed  nor  elated,  but  becomes  continent  in  his 
inclinations,  and  temperate  in  his  pleasures.  Pleasure 
is  not  really  pleasure  to  him,  for  he  has  present  to 
him  its  ceasing ;  pain  is  not  pain,  for  he  has  by  force 


II 


THE  STRENUOUS  LIFE 


279 


i 


*  Lag.  634.  4. 


*  634.  22, 


of  thought   its  termination   before  him  :    all   mutable 
things  therefore  are  to  him  as  things  that  are  not.^ 

Owing  to  the  ever-moving  cycle  of  change,  the 
ordinary  soul  must  of  necessity  fall  back,  in  the  course 
of  the  eternal  process  of  its  life,  to  the  lowest  stage, 
however  high  in  the  scale  it  may  have  risen  ;  but  this, 
although  an  evil  for  it,  does  not  prejudice  the  whole, 
in  which  all  things  work  together  for  good.  Some  few, 
however,  may  escape  this  danger",  through  becoming 
united  with  the  eternal  Mind  or  Source.^  They  then 
cease  to  be  subject  to  mutation, — Mind  being  immut- 
able,— and  persist  in  eternal  blessedness  and  love.  For 
such  favoured  ones  of  heaven,  the  greatest  evils  of  this 
life  are  converted  into  goods,  correspondingly  great. 
It  is  sufl^ering  that  compels  the  labour  and  the  striving 
which  lead  most  frequently  to  the  glory  of  immortal 
splendour.     Deaih  in  one  age  makes  to  live  in  all  others.^ 

There  are,  however,  two  kinds  of  furori  (or  inspira-  Kinds  of 
tion).  ''  In  some  there  is  only  blindness,  stupidity,  un-  "^^  '" 
reasoning  impulse  ;  others  consist  in  a  certain  divine 
abstraction  by  which  some  men  become  better  in  fact 
than  ordinary  men.  These  again  are  of  two  kinds,  for 
some  becoming  the  habitation  of  gods  or  of  divine 
spirits,  say  or  do  miraculous  things  without  themselves 
or  others  understanding  the  reason  ;  these  for  the  most 
part  are  promoted  to  this  state  from  one  of  rudeness 
and  ignorance  :  the  divine  sense  and  spirit  enters  into 
them  as  into  a  house  swept  and  garnished,  they  being 
void  of  any  spirit  or  sense  of  their  own.  Others  being 
more  habituated  to  or  skilled  in  contemplation,  and 
having  innate  in  them  a  lucid  and  intellectual  spirit,  are 
moved  by  an  internal  impulse  and  natural  fervour,  with 
love  of  divinity,  justice,  truth,  glory ;   by  the  fire  of 

*  Lag.  635.  ^  649,  650.  »  626.  20/ 


f. ! 


r' 


'  ( 


28o 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


II 


THREE  DEGREES  OF  LOVE 


281 


!•« 


desire,  fanned  by  the  breath  of  purpose,  they  give  edge 
to  their  senses,  and  in  the  sulphur  of  the  thinking 
faculty  enkindle  the  light  of  reason,  by  which  they  see 
further  than  ordinary  men.  These  come  in  the  end  to 
speak  and  operate  not  as  vases  or  instruments,  but  as 
principal  artificers  and  agents — the  first  have  worth  or 
dignity,  the  second  are  worthy  :  or  the  first  are  worthy 
as  an  ass  that  carries  the  sacraments,  the  second  as  a 
sacred  thing.  In  the  first  we  see  divinity  in  effect — we 
admire,  adore,  obey  it;  in  the  second  we  see  the 
excellence  of  our  own  humanity."  ^ 

The  steps  towards  the  highest  peak  of  human 
excellence  are  compared,  after  Neoplatonist  example,  to 
Ascent  to-  the  degrees  in  intensity  of  light,  as  we  proceed  from 
with  the  darkness,  in  which  it  is  entirely  absent,  to  shadow,  then 
divme.  ^Q  ^^  colours  in  their  order  from  black  to  white,  next 
to  the  brightness  diffused  from  polished  or  transparent 
bodies,  the  rays  outflowing  from  the  sun,  finally  to  the 
sun  itself,  in  which  light  is  most  truly  and  most  vividly 
itself.2  First  of  all  it  is  needful  for  the  soul  to  turn  to 
the  light,  "  by  act  of  conversion  to  present  the  light  of 
intelligence  to  its  eyes,  so  to  regain  its  lost  virtue,  to 
strengthen  its  sinews,  to  terrify  and  put  to  rout  its 
enemies," — the  lower,  sense-feelings  and  passions.  The 
conversion  seems  to  arise  as  by  an  act  of  grace  from 
above ;  or,  to  express  this  in  other  words,  the  soul  or 
spirit  tends  towards  that  with  which  it  has  greatest 
affinity,  as  the  sun-flower  tends  towards  the  sun,  and 
this  affinity  in  the  human  soul  is  Love.^     The  symbol 

>  Lag.  639.  22  ff.  5   cf.  &g,  Sig.  §  48,  for  the   first  kind   of  furor  {Op.  Lat, 
ii.  2.  191). 

*  Lag.  672.  1. 

•  Cf.  the  Sonnet  on  p.  631  : — 

Amor  per  cui  tant'  alto  il  vcr  discerno, 
Ch'  apre  le  porte  di  diamante  nere, 


of  love  is  fire,  for  love  converts  the  object  of  love  into 
the  lover,  as  fire  is  of  all  elements  the  most  active,  the 
most  potent  to  transform  others  into  itself.^  It  is  the 
divine  in  man  that  makes  him  or  impels  him  to  love 
God  as  He  is  in  reality,  and  the  goal  or  aim  of  that  love 
is  to  take  God  into  himself,  to  become  one  with  God. 
No  really  divine  or  heroic  love  can  ever  rest  satisfied  in 
anything  but  spiritual  beauty.  For  there  are  three  kinds 
of  love,  as  there  are  three  kinds  of  Platonic  rapture — 
the  contemplative,  the  practical,  the  idle  or  voluptuous. 
One  from  the  perception  of  corporeal  form  and  beauty 
rises  to  the  thought  of  the  spiritual  and  divine ;  another 
enjoys  the  vision  of  beauty  for  itself,  and  for  the  grace 
of  the  spirit  that  is  reflected  in  the  grace  of  the  body  ; 
while  still  another  enjoys  only  the  material  pleasure  that 
beauty  provides  ;  the  last  is  the  love  of  barbarous 
natures,  incapable  of  raising  themselves  to  love  that 
which  is  really  worthy  of  love.^ 

To  the  two  higher  kinds  of  love  correspond  the  two  Beauty. 
kinds  of  beauty — sensible  and  intelligible.  That  in  the 
body  which  calls  forth  love — its  beauty — is  a  certain 
spirituality,  which  consists  not  in  definite  dimensions, 
"  nor  in  determinate  colours  or  forms,  but  in  a  certain 
harmony  and  consonance  of  members  and  colours." 
Corporeal  beauty  is  not,  however,  true  or  permanent 
beauty,  and  therefore  cannot  call  forth  true  or  per- 
manent love.  The  beauty  of  bodies  is  accidental, 
"shadowy,"  and  like  other  qualities  is  absorbed,  altered, 
and  decays  through  the  change  of  the  subject-body,  for 
the  latter  frequently  from  beautiful  becomes  ugly,  without 
any  change  taking  place  in  the  soul.     Reason^  however. 

Per  gl'  occhi  entra  il  mio  nume,  et  per  vedere 
Nasce,  vive,  si  nutre,  ha  regno  eterno. 
Fa  scorger — quant'  ha  '1  ciel,  terr'  et  inferno. 
"  Lag.  628.  18.  *  Lag.  639. 


\ 


■  Ii 


i'i 


i 


282 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


II 


THE  TRULY  BEAUTIFUL 


283 


apprehends  the  more  truly  beautiful  by  conversion  to  that 
which  makes  beauty  in  body,  the  source  of  the  beauty, 
and  that  is  the  soul,  which  has  so  moulded  and  formed 
it.  Intellect  rises  still  higher,  sees  that  while  the  soul 
is  incomparably  beautiful  above  the  beauty  of  bodily 
things,  it  is  not  beautiful  in  itself,  or  primitively,  other- 
wise there  could  not  exist  the  diversity  that  is  found  in 
souls — some  being  wise,  lovable,  beautiful,  others  foolish, 
hateful,  ugly.  Hence  it  must  rise  to  that  higher 
intelligence  which  of  itself  is  beautiful  and  of  itself  is 
good.  That  is  the  One,  the  Supreme  Captain,  who 
when  presented  to  the  eyes  of  the  thoughts  militant, 
illuminates  them,  encourages,  strengthens,  and  leads 
them  to  victory  in  the  contempt  of  every  other  beauty, 
and  repudiation  of  every  other  good.  Its  presence, 
therefore,  is  that  which  enables  us  to  overcome  every 
difficulty  and  conquer  every  force.^^  The  Intelligence 
which  is  the  truest  beauty  attainable  by  us,  is  not  yet 
Divinity  itself,  but  only  the  highest  "  intelligible  species," 
or  form,  the  highest  Idea.  Divinity  itself  is  the  final, 
the  most  perfect  object  of  thought  and  love,  not  attain- 
able in  our  present  state,  in  which  God  cannot  become 
object  to  us,  except  through  some  image.^  No  image 
of  the  Divine,  however,  even  the  most  inadequate,  can 
be  abstracted  or  otherwise  derived  by  the  senses,  from 
corporeal  beauty  or  excellence.  Such  can  be  formed 
only  by  the  intellect,  and  on  such  the  human  intellect 
feeds,  in  this  lower  world,  until  it  be  allowed  to  behold 
with  purer  eyes  the  beauty  of  divinity  itself.  In  a  fine 
simile  Bruno  describes  how  one  may  come  to  some 
mansion,  most  exquisitely  adorned,  and  as  he  goes  about 
observing  now  this,  now  that,  is  pleased  and  happy, 
filled  with  delight  and  noble  wonder.     But  if  then  he 

^  Lag.  672.  29.  '  646.  2  ff. 


sees  the  living  Lord  of  these  beautiful  forms,  of  beauty 
incomparably  greater,  he  lets  go  all  care  or  thought  of 
them,  intent  wholly  on  this  one^  their  source.  Such  is 
the  difference  between  the  earthly  state,  when  we  see 
the  divine  beauty  in  intelligible  or  abstract  forms, 
derived  from  its  effects,  its  works,  masterpieces,  its 
shadows  and  similitudes,  and  the  perfect  state,  when  we 
are  allowed  to  behold  it  in  its  real  presence.^  The 
"  intelligible  species  "  of  this  conception,  which  Bruno 
derives  from  Neoplatonism,  are  simply  the  ideas  of  the 
"speculative  sciences,"  which  include,  however,  what 
would  now  be  called  the  natural  sciences.  Human 
Perfection  consists  in  a  form  of  knowledge,  a  system 
of  thought,  by  which  the  knower  becomes  one  with 
the  mind  in  which  this  thought-system  originated,  the 
mind  of  God.  Our  knowledge — that  is,  our  perfection 
— can  never,  however,  be  complete,  since  the  object,  the 
knowable,  can  never  be  perfectly  comprehended.  But 
k  may  be  made  complete  so  far  as  our  vision  extends ; 
and  herein  lies  a  saving  clause  for  the  "  ordinary " 
man.  Few  can  reach  the  goal,  but  all  may  run  ;  it  is 
enough  that  each  do  his  best  possible.  The  generous 
spirit  prefers  to  fail  nobly  in  the  pursuit  of  the  highest 
rather  than  to  succeed  in  inferior  and  baser  enterprises.^ 
Acteon  typifies  the  human  intellect  in  its  pursuit  of 
the  divine  wisdom  and  capture  of  divine  beauty.' 
The  wild  beasts  whom  he  tracks  down  are  the  "  in- 

1  Lag.  646,  647. 

'  647.  34  fF.  J  cf.  the  Sonnet  (Tansillo's)  on  p.  648  :— 

Poi  che  spiegat  'ho*  Tali  al  bel  desio, 

Quanto  piu  sott'  il  pie  1'  aria  mi  scorgo, 

Piu  le  veloci  penne  al  vento  porgo, 

Et  spreggio  il  mondo,  et  vers*  il  ciel  m'  invio. 

•  ■•••■ 

Fendi  sicur  le  nubi,  et  muor  contento  ; 
S'  il  ciel  si  illustre  morte  ne  destina. 
'  AlU  selve  i  mastmi  e  P  veltri  slaccia  II  grovan  Atteorij  etc.,  p.  651. 


I 


'< 


'  i 


284 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


process. 


h 


h  species"  or  ideal   forms,  rarely  sought,  and 
rarely  seen  by  those  that  seek  them.      His  dogs  are 
the  thoughts  that  issue  outwards  in  search  of  good- 
ness, wisdom,  beauty  beyond  himself.      The  fate  of 
Acteon — his  death  under  the  fangs  of  his  own  hounds 
— represents  how  the  generous  spirit,  coming  into  the 
presence  of  that  highest  beauty,  is  ravished  out  of  itself, 
is  converted  into  the  very  prey  which  it  pursued  :  itself 
is  now  the  prey  of  its  own  thoughts,  for  it  has  con- 
tracted divinity  into  itself,   has  no   longer  to  seek  it 
outside  of  itself :  as  love  converts  into  the  thing  loved.^ 
His  death  means  that  he  ends  his  life  according  to  the 
world  of  folly,  of  sense,  of  blindness  and  of  fancy,  only  to 
commence  the  new  intellectual  life,  the  life  of  the  gods.^ 
The  first  step,  however,  in  the  desire  of  the  infinitely 
The  infinite  bcautiful  is  but  the  beginning  of  an  endless  series  :  the 
heart  goes  out  on  an  endless  quest,  while  the  intellect 
cannot  but  follow.     For  the    intellect  cannot  rest    in 
any  definite  or  finite  idea  or  object,  but  is  driven  ever 
forwards  towards  the  source  of  all  ideas,  the  ocean  of 
all  truth  and  goodness.     Whatever  form  may  be  pre- 
sented to  it  and  comprehended  by  it,  it  judges  that 
there  must  be  a  greater  above  and  beyond  that.    Hence 
it  is  in  constant  discourse  and  movement,  for  whatever 
it  possesses  is  seen  to  be  a  measured  thing,  and  therefore 
cannot   be  suflicient  in  itself,  nor  good  in  itself,  nor 
beautiful  in  itself.     It  is  not  the  universe,  not  absolute 
Being,  but  Being  "  contracted  "  to  this  or  that  nature, 
species,  form,  represented  to  the  intellect,  and  presented 
to  the  mind  (animo).     Thus  always  from  beauty  com- 
prehended, and  therefore    measured   or   limited, — the 
beautiful  by  participation, — we  progress  towards  that 
which  is  truly  beautiful,  beautiful  without  any  limit  or 


*  Lag.  651,  652. 


•  6^3.  6. 


II  PROGRESS  AND  PERFECTION         285 

margin.^  On  the  other  hand,^  this  infinite  process  is  not 
in  vain,  for  it  is  not  from  imperfect  to  perfect,  but  a 
"  circular  movement  about  the  degrees  of  perfection,  in 
order  to  arrive  at  the  infinite  centre  which  is  neither 
formed  nor  form."  This  paradox  Tansillo  (taking  the 
part  of  the  Nolan)  refuses  to  explain.  It  probably  hints 
at  the  idea,  as  familiar  in  Bruno  as  the  infinite  process 
itself,  that  in  each  form  or  degree  of  perfection,  the 
infinite  with  all  its  perfection,  is  wholly  present.  It  is 
a  centre  which  is  at  the  same  time  the  circumference. 

In  a  subsequent  dialogue  ^  the  object  alike  of  intel- 
lectual pursuit  and  of  the  heart's  desire  is  described  as 
a  positive  or  "  perfective "  infinite.  The  will  cannot 
rest  satisfied  with  a  finite  good  ;  but  if  there  is  other 
good  beyond,  desires  it,  seeks  it,  because,  as  the  com- 
mon saying  goes,  the  acme  of  one  species  is  the  foot 
and  the  beginning  of  the  next  higher  species.  The 
highest  good  being  infinite,  it  is  communicated  in- 
finitely, but  also  according  to  the  nature  of  the  things 
to  which  it  is  communicated.  Neither  to  the  universe, 
e.g.  as  regards  mass  and  figure,  nor  to  the  intellect,  nor 
to  the  heart,  are  any  definite  limits  fixed  ;  yet  the 
intellect  and  the  heart  may  still  become  perfect  through 
or  by  their  object,  for  that  object  is  not  merely  a 
"  privative  infinite* "  or  potentiality,  but  a  perfective  or 
positive  ^  infinite  as  being  itself  actuality  and  perfection. 
When  the  intellect  conceives  truth,  or  light,  the  good, 
the  beautiful,  within  the  whole  capacity  of  its  nature, 
and  the  soul  drinks  of  the  divine  nectar  and  of  the 
source  of  eternal  life,  so  much  as  its  vessel  can  hold,  it 
is  seen  that  the  light  (of  truth)  extends  beyond,  and 

1  Lag.  654,  655.  2558.16.  »73i.9ff. 

*  E.g.  darkness  is  prk/atively  infinite,  although  it  has  a  limit  in  light,  a  positive 
something. 

*  E.g.  light  is  positi'veli  infinite  j  its  limit — darkness — is  privation. 


I 


/   '» 


r 


f 


>ii 


« 


,'   f   ' 


286 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


^i 


Jwdy. 


that  the  intellect  may  go  on  and  on,  penetrating  more 
deeply  into  it.  The  nectar  and  the  source  of  living  water 
are  infinitely  productive  ;  the  soul  may  quench  its  thirst 
in  it  again  and  again.^ 

Thus  the  blessed  or  perfect  life  for  Bruno  meant  a 
permanent,  continuous  absorption  of  the  individual  soul 
in  the  divine  goodness — a  permanence  or  eternity  which 
was  also  one  with  the  instant  of  time.  There  was  no 
greater  value  at  any  later  moment  than  at  the  first 
union  of  the  soul  with  its  divine  object :  the  soul  was 
thereby  removed,  once  for  all,  out  of  the  constant  flux 
of  things,  the  incessant  renewal  and  rebirth  of  the  soul 
throughout  the  ages,  and  lifted  up  into  the  calm  of  the 
eternal  and  immutable. 

Even  the  heroic  soul,  however,  is,  as  other  souls, 
Soul  and  on  the  border  line  between  corporeal  and  incorporeal 
nature ;  in  part  it  tends  to  rise  towards  the  upper 
world,  in  part  inclines  towards  the  lower  world.  If 
sense  ascends  to  imagination,  imagination  to  reason, 
reason  to  intellect,  intellect  to  mind,  then  the  soul  is 
wholly  converted  into  God,  and  its  dwelling-place  is 
the  intelligible  world.  In  the  contrary  direction  it 
descends  through  conversion  to  the  sensible  world,  by 
way  of  intellect,  reason,  imagination,  sense,  and  the 
vegetative  faculty.  Mind  (the  highest  faculty  in  Bruno's 
psychology  : — ^the  intuitive  perception  of  unity  with 
the  supreme  ideal  world)  is  oppressed  by  its  conjunc- 
tion with  the  more  material  faculties  of  the  soul ; 
knowing  of  a  higher  state  to  which  the  soul  might  rise, 
it  despises  the  present  in  favour  of  the  future.  If  a 
brute  had  sense  of  the  diflPerence  between  its  condition 
and  that  of  man,  and  between  the  baseness  of  its  state 
and  the  nobility  of  that  of  man,  to  which  it  did  not  feel 

>  Lag.  731. 


II 


SOUL  AND  BODY 


287 


H\ 


it  impossible  to  rise,  it  would  prefer  death  which  should 
put  it  on  the  way  to  that  state,  to  life  which  held  it  fast 
in  its  present  one.  So  the  soul,  compelled  by  its  loftier 
thoughts,  as  if  dead  to  the  body,  aspires  upwards. 
Although  living  in  the  body,  it  "  vegetates  "  there  as 
dead — is  present  in  it  so  far  as  animation  is  concerned, 
but  absent  from  it  in  its  proper  action.^ 

Thus  the  heroic  soul,  although  present  in  the  body, 
is  absent  from  it  with  the  better  part  of  itself,  and 
unites  itself  in  an  indissoluble  bond  with  divine  things. 
It  feels  neither  love  nor  hatred  of  mortal  things,  con- 
sidering itself  too  great  to  be  the  slave  and  servant  of 
its  body :  the  latter  it  regards  simply  as  a  prison-house 
within  which  its  liberty  is  closed  in  ;  a  snare  that  holds 
its  wings  entangled  ;  a  chain  that  binds  its  hands ;  fetters 
that  hold  its  feet  fast ;  a  veil  that  bewilders  its  vision. 
Yet  it  is  neither  slave,  nor  captive,  nor  entangled,  nor 
chained,  nor  held  fast,  bound  nor  blind,  for  the  body 
cannot  tyrannise  over  it  further  than  itself  allows.  It 
has  spirit  allotted  to  it  proportionally  to  its  nearness  to 
divinity,  since  the  corporeal  world  and  matter  are  subject 
to  divinity  and  nature.  So  it  may  make  itself  strong 
against  fortune,  magnanimous  against  injustice,  bold  in 
face  of  poverty,  disease,  and  persecution.^ 

The  soul  of  man,  in  Bruno's  psychology,  as  in  T^esoH^ 
Aristotle's,  performs  a  double  function  : — "  the  one  is 
to  vivify  and  actuate  the  body,  and  the  other  to  con- 
template the  higher  world.  It  has  a  receptive  faculty 
towards  the  spiritual,  an  active  faculty  towards  the 
corporeal.  Body  is  as  dead,  a  thing  privative  towards 
the  soul,  which  is  its  life  and  perfection,  and  the  soul  is 
as  dead,  a  thing  privative  to  the  higher  illuminating 
intelligence  from  which  its  intellect   derives  both  its 


II  /• 


■■•»■ 


r" 


II 


'  Lag.  662,  663. 


701.  30  fF, 


si 


«■■ 


288 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


if 


tendency  or  nature,  and  its  actual  form,  its  realisation."^ 
The  soul  is  not  locally  in  the  body,  but  is  related  to 
it  as  intrinsic  form,  and  as  extrinsic  giver  of  form  : 
moulding  the  members,  and  giving  shape  to  the 
composite  result  from  within  and  from  without.  Body 
is  in  soul,  soul  in  mind,  and  mind  either  /V,  or  is  in 
God,  as  Plotinus  said."^  The  dualism  of  nature  and 
divinity,  of  corporeal  and  spiritual,  intellect  and  sense, 
permeates  the  ethical  as  it  permeates  the  earlier  philo- 
sophical thought  of  Bruno  :  nowhere  is  the  Neoplatonist 
effort  to  overcome  the  dualism  inherent  both  in  Plato 
and  in  Aristotle  less  effective  than  here.  Thus  the 
Distraction  body  remains — in  spite  of  the  continuity  seemingly 
*  maintained  between  the  highest  and  the  lowest  of  the 
emanations  from  the  supreme,  or  the  identity  asserted 
between  sense,  imagination,  reason,  intellect, — the  chief 
hindrance  to  the  aspiration  of  the  soul.  For  the  body 
is  in  continual  movement,  change,  alteration,  and  its 
faculties  are  conditioned  by  its  inherent  nature,  its 
operations  by  its  faculties.  "  How  then  can  immobility, 
subsistence,  entity,  truth,  be  understood  by  that  which 
is  always  different  from  itself,  always  acting  and 
becoming  in  different  ways  ?  What  truth,  what 
representation  can  be  depicted  or  impressed  when  the 
pupils  of  the  eyes  are  dispersed  into  water,  the  water 
into  vapour,  the  vapour  into  flame,  the  flame  into  air — 
that  into  other  things  and  again  other,  the  object  of 
sense  and  sense-knowledge  passing  endlessly  through 
the  infinite  cycle  of  changes  ? "  Thought  and  passion 
take  their  character  from  their  object,  or  the  sense-data 
on  which  they  are  based  :  but  '*  that  which  has  always 
before  it  now  one  thing  now  another,  now  in  one  way 

^  Lag.  732.  23;  the  terms  correspond  to  S6vafui  and  iv^fyyeiOf  or  CXti  and 
eldoj,  respectively.  ^  647.  7.     . 


I 


II 


"DEATH"  AND  "LIFE" 


289 


now  in  another,  must  necessarily  be  quite  blind  in 
regard  to  that  beauty  which  is  always  one,  and  in  one 
manner,  which  is  unity  itself,  entity,  identity."  ^ 

Into  the  very  life  of  the  generous  soul  there  enter, 
accordingly,  the  contrarieties  by  which  on  a  lower  plane 
the  soul   is  governed: — "the  skilfulness   and  art  of 
nature    cause  it  to  faint  with  desire  for   that  which 
destroys  it,  to  be  content  in  the  midst  of  torment,  to  be 
tormented  in  the  midst  of  all  content.     For  nothing 
derives  from  principles  of  peace,  but  everything  from 
contrary  principles,  through  the  victory  and  dominance 
of  one  side  of  the  contrariety.     There  is  no  pleasure  of 
generation  on  one  side  without  the  pain  of  corruption 
on  the  other ;  and  the  things  that  are  becoming  and 
those  that  are  decaying  are  conjoined  in  one  and  the 
same  composite  being.     The  sense  of  joy  and  the  sense 
of  sorrow  go  ever  together  ;  it  is  called  joy  rather  than 
sorrow  if  the  former  predominates  and  has  greater  force 
to  solicit  the  sense."  ^     The  life  in  death  of  the  more 
divine  soul  is  only  an  extreme  instance  : — it  is  the  death 
of  lovers  from  an  extreme  of  joy,  the  Cabalist  mors 
oscu/iy  and  is  at  the  same  time  eternal  life,  such  as  man 
may  have  potentially,  in  disposition^  in  this  world,  but 
actually,  in  effect^  in  eternity  alone."  ^     Again  it  is  the 
contrast    of   infinite   desire   and    finite   power  : — "  the 
weakness  of  the  human   mind  which  is   intent  on  its 
divine  enterprise,  and  suddenly  is  engulfed  in  the  abyss 
of  incomprehensible  excellence.     Sense  and  imagination 
are   confused  and  absorbed,  the  soul  can  neither   go 
forward  nor  backward,  nor  know  where  to  turn,  but 
loses  its  being  just  as  a  drop  of  water  vanishes  in  the 
sea,  or  a  little  vapour  thins  out  and  loses  its  proper 
substance  in  the  spacious  immeasurable  air."  * 

1  Lag.  744. 1  fF.        «  696. 24  i  cf.  681. 22.        3  70J  jj         4  715  j^ 

0 


\ 


I, 


I' 


290 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


II 


If 


Intelligence       As  thc  height  of  ouf  intelligence,  so  is  the  depth 
and  love,     ^f  ^^^   j^^^   ^^   passion ;    the   higher,    Le.  the   more 

comprehensive,    the   object   of    knowledge,    the    more 
absorbed   become   feelings  and    emotions   in   its   con- 
templation.*    The  most  complete  absorption  is  that  of 
the  heroic  mind  in  its  infinite  and  all -comprehensive 
object.     That  is  not  perfect  divine  heroic  love  which 
feels  the  spur  or  the  bridle,  or  regret  or  grief  for  any 
other  love  ;  but  that  which  is  entirely  without  sense  or 
feeling  of  other  passions.     It  is  so  deep  in  its  delight 
that  nothing  can  displease  or  divert  it  or  cause  it  to 
stumble  in  the  least,  and  this  is  to  reach  the  highest 
•   blessedness   in   our   present   state  —  to    have   pleasure 
without  any  sense  of  pain.^     The  loss  of  sense  is  caused 
by  the  absorption  of  the  whole  being  in  virtue,  in  the 
truly  good,  and  in  felicity.    Regulus,  Lucretia,  Socrates, 
Anaxarchus,  Scaevola,  Codes,  are   instanced   as  noble 
human   beings   who   had    no   feeling   or  sense  of  the 
greatest  tortures,  or  what  would  be  such  to  baser  human 
natures.*     "  A  keener  joy,  or  fear,  or  hope,  faith,  or 
indignation,  or  contempt,  turns  the  mind  away  from  any 
present,   less   vivid,   passion."      "One    who   is    more 
deeply  moved  by  the  sight  of  some  other  thing,  does 
not  suffer  the  pangs  of  death.     The  truly  wise   and 
virtuous  man,  not  feeling  pain,  is  perfectly  happy,  so 
far  as   the  present  life  admits,  at  least  in  the  eye  of 
reason." 

»  Lag.  663.  36  ;  cf.  666.  5.  '  P.  680.  2  ff. 

»  Cf.  also  Sigillus  Sigillorum  (ii.  2.  192),  where  Polemon  and  Laurentiut  are 
added  to  the  above  list.  The  highest  kind  of  "  contraction  "  or  concentration  is  the 
subject,  viz.  that  which  is  proper  to  philosophers.  Cf.  also  De  F'mculis  In  genere 
(vol.  iii.  p.  657).  Diogenes  the  Cynic  and  Epicurus  are  placed  side  by  side 
as  having  held  that  they  had  attained  the  highest  good  in  this  life  possible  to 
man,  when  they  could  keep  the  mind  free  from  pain,  fear,  anger,  or  other 
melancholy  passions  and  preserve  it  in  a  certain  heroic  delight.  By  this  con- 
tempt of  thc  ignoble  things  in  this  life,  viz.  those  subject  to  change,  they  protested 
that  they  had  attained,  even  in  this  mortal  body,  to  a  life  similar  to  that  of  the  godi. 


II 


GOD  IN  US 


291 


In  its  aspiration  the  soul  need  not  go  beyond  itself, 
need  only  enter  into    the   depths   of    its   own    mind 
{mens)  ;  "  for  this  it  is  unnecessary  to  open  the  eyes 
wide  upon  the  heavens,  to  raise  aloft  the  hands,  to  wend 
one's  way  to  the  temple,  to  intone  to  the  ears  of  idols, 
that  one  may  best  be  heard ;  rather  we  should  enter 
into  the  innermost  heart  of  ourselves,  for  God  is  near 
to  us,  with  us,  within  us,  more  truly  than  we  are  in 
ourselves ;  being  soul  of  souls,  life  of  lives,  essence  of 
essences."     Divinity  is  not  more  nor  less  present  in  the 
other  worlds  than  in  our  own  or  in  ourselves.^     There- 
fore the  heroic  soul  withdraws  from  the  many,  neither 
hating  them  nor  seeking  to  be  like  them,  associating 
only  with  those  whom  it  may  make  better,  or  who  may 
make  it  better  ;  but  aiming  ever  to  be  self-sufficient  in  Aspiration. 
its  own  wisdom.     "The  soul  must  come  to  the  point 
when  it  no  longer  regards  but  despises  fatigue,  and 
the  more  the  contest  of  passions  and  vices  rages  within, 
the  struggle  of  vicious  enemies  without,  the  more  it 
must  aspire  and  rise,  and  pass,  with  one  breath  (if  it 
may  be)  over  this  mountain  of  difficulty.     Here  there 
is  no  need  for  other  arms  or  shield  than  the  grandeur 
of  an  invincible  mind,  the  endurance  of  a  spirit  which 
maintains    the  even  tenor  of  its  life,   proceeds   from 
knowledge,  and  is  regulated  by  the  art  of  speculating 
upon  things  high  and  low,  divine  and  human,  in  which 
its  highest  good  consists."  ^ 

To  the  love  in  the  human  soul  there  corresponds  Love  of 
love  in  the  divine  nature,  because  love  is  of  the  essence 
of  divinity.     It   precedes,    in   the    mythology  of  the 
ancients,  all  the  other  gods.     Hence  there  is  a  natural 

*-■- , -„,,.|„ii , , -  ■■ ""' ■"* 


^| 


«i 


fl 


*  Lag.  700.  35  ;  cf.  681.  19. 

2  P.  700. 14,  701.  4  fF. }  cf.  also  710,  11.    The  divine  beauty  excludes  the  possi- 
bility of  our  loving  in  its  stead  any  other  object.     Also  713.  30. 


.'. 


292 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


instinct  or  tendency  of  all  things  towards  the  beautiful 
and  good.  Love  is  that  by  virtue  of  which  all  things 
are  produced,  which  is  in  all  things,  and  is  the  vigour 
of  all  things ;  by  its  guidance  souls  rise  to  contemplation, 
by  the  power  of  flight  it  inspires,  the  difficulties  of 
nature  are  overcome,  and  men  become  united  with 
God.^  To  see  God  is  to  be  seen  by  God  ;  to  be  heard 
by  divinity  is  to  hear  the  voice  of  divinity  ;  to  be 
favoured  by  its  grace  is  the  same  thing  as  offering 
oneself  to  it.  The  divine  potency  that  is  wholly  in 
everything  does  not  offer  nor  withdraw  itself  except 
through  the  conversion  of  the  other,  its  object,  to  it,  or 
aversion  from  it.^  To  love  God  is  to  be  loved  by  God. 
It  is  only  through  love,  again,  that  we  can  approach  the 
inmost  nature  of  God ;  we  cannot  reason  or  even 
think  of  the  divine  without  detracting  from  it  rather 
than  adding  to  its  glory.*  To  think  of  God  is  to  limit 
Him,  and,  therefore,  as  we  have  seen,  every  concep- 
tion of  Him  is  inadequate  :  the  deepest,  the  highest 
knowledge  of  divine  things  is  by  way  of  negation, 
never  by  affirmation.  For  the  divine  beauty  and  divine 
goodness  can  never  fall  within  our  understanding  (our 
conceptual  knowledge),  but  are  ever  beyond  and  beyond 
in  absolute  incomprehensibility.  No  finite  intelligence 
ever  perceives  the  substance  of  divinity,  but  always  its 
similitude,  its  image  ;  even  the  highest  intelligences  are, 
in  the  language  of  the  schools,  not  formally,  but  only 
denominatively  y  gods,  or  divine, — divinity  and  the  divine 
beauty  remaining  one  and  exalted  above  all  things.* 
Being  itself  eternal,  unchangeable,  the  divine  truth 
reveals  itself  to  the  few  to  whom  it  is  revealed — not 
as  in  the  physical  sciences,  which  are  acquired  by  the 

1  Op.  Lat.,  ii.  2.  195.  *  Lag.  704.  10. 

'  Lag.  699.  3.  *  P.  742.  24 }  cf.  also  723.  28  and  724.  17. 


II  I 


II 


THE  LOVE  OF  GOD 


293 


natural  light  of  sense  and  reason,  proceeding  from  the 
known  to  the  unknown,  in  successive  stages,  but — 
suddenly  and  at  one  stroke.  There  is  no  need  of 
expense  of  time,  laborious  study,^  active  inquiry,  to 
secure  it ;  but  it  enters  into  us  as  readily  as  the  solar 
light  is  present,  without  lapse  of  time  to  him  who 
turns  to  it,  and  lays  himself  open  to  receive  it.^  When 
the  soul  is  thus  wholly  turned  to  God — to  the  Idea  of 
Ideas — the  mind  is  lifted  up  to  the  unity  above  essence, 
and  becomes  all  love,  all  simplicity  and  unity.  The 
soul  is  permeated  at  once  with  the  desire  or  love  of 
the  divine  beauty  in  itself,  "  without  similitude,  figure, 
image,  or  form" — a  desire  or  love  which  is  its  own 
realisation. 

^  Lag.  741.  14. 


I 


I 


i 


ill 


CHAPTER  VIII 

POSITIVE    RELIGIONS    AND    THE    RELIGION    OF 

PHILOSOPHY 

The  hostility  which  the  Italian  and  some  of  the  Latin 
writings  of  Bruno  showed  towards  the  positive  religions 
of  his  day,  alike  the  Catholic,  the  Reformed,  the 
Jewish,  and  the  Mahomedan,  had  two  grounds  :  his 
belief  that  religious  or  sectarian  strife  was  the  chief 
cause  of  the  evils  of  war  and  civil  discord  that  were 
rife  throughout  Europe,  and  the  fact  that  one  and  all 
of  these  Churches  claimed  the  right  of  limiting  thought 
as  well  as  of  dictating  practice,  and  in  their  exercise  of 
this  right  formed  an  unendurable  barrier  in  the  way  of 
human  progress.  Of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  to 
which  all  his  life  Bruno  belonged  in  spirit  if  not  in 
outward  conformity,  he  never  expressly  denied  any  of 
the  essential  doctrines,  as  he  maintained  before  the 
Inquisition  at  Venice.  On  the  other  hand,  he  admitted 
that  he  had  occasionally  made  indirect  criticism  of 
these  doctrines,  speaking  or  writing  *'  philosophically,** 
not  "  theologically."  To  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
for  example,  he  had  given  a  rationalist,  half-mystical 
interpretation,  seeing  in  it  a  figure  or  metaphor  of  the 
coincidence  in  God  of  the  three  highest  principles — 
Mind  (the  Father),  Intellect  (the  word,  the  Son),  and 

294 


> 


PART  n 


THE  TRINITY 


295 


Love,  the  creating,  vivifying  force  of  the  Universe  (the 
Comforter  or  Holy  Spirit).  It  is  quite  clear  that  he 
did  not  accept  as  "philosophically"  true  the  dis- 
tinction of  Persons,  or  the  special  divinity  of  Christ 
Only  once,  perhaps,  does  he  write  seriously  of  Christ  as 
the  Son  of  God,  and  that  in  one  of  the  posthumous 
works,  the  Lampas  Triginta  Statuarum}  "Charity  is 
the  most  perfect  and  consummate  harmony,  by  which 
the  soul  in  us  becomes  so  harmonious  in  itself  that  it  is 
attuned  both  to  God  and  to  all  men  equally,  not  only 
to  friends  but  even  to  enemies  ;  to  this  perfection  we 
are  drawn,  impelled,  invited  by  the  Son  of  the  all- 
mighty  God,  to  raise  us  up  to  the  likeness  of  the 
Father,  '  who  maketh  His  sun  to  rise  upon  good  and 
evil,  and  sends  His  rain  upon  the  just  and  the  unjust,' 
uplifting  us  from  the  savage  condition  of  life  common 
to  brutes  and  to  the  uncivilised,  who  love  their  friends 
and  neighbours,  but  hate  strangers  and  enemies."  On 
the  other  hand,  this  very  law  is  elsewhere  spoken  of  as 
coming  not  from  the  *'  evil  spirit  or  genius  of  any  one 
race,"  but  from  God,  the  Father  of  all,  as  being  in 
harmony  with  universal  nature,  and  as  teaching  a 
general  philanthropy  ;  "  that  we  should  love  our  very 
enemies,  not  be  like  brutes  and  barbarians,  but  trans- 
form ourselves  after  the  image  of  Him  who  makes  His 
sun  to  rise  upon  good  and  evil,  and  makes  the  rain  of 
His  mercies  to  fall  upon  just  and  unjust.  This  is  the 
religion  which  I  observe,  as  beyond  all  controversy, 
and  above  all  disputation,  both  from  the  conviction  of 
my  mind,  and  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  my 
fatherland  and  race."  ^ 

What  Bruno  rejected  in  Christianity  was  the  whole 

*  op.  Lat.  iii.  158. 
*  Op.  Lat.  i.  3.  4  (Letter  to  Rudolph  11.,  prefixed  to  the  Art.  adv.  Math.). 


I 
I 

I 


II 

I 

i 


\i 


•  V**4>»»«  <»<     / 


296 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


\l 


\ 

f 


m 


I 


ill 


lili 


mass  of  doctrine  which  suggested  a  miraculous  or 
supernatural  interference  with  the  order  of  nature, 
for  the  benefit  either  of  a  particular  person,  or  of  a 
particular  race.  That  is  the  nerve,  for  example,  of  his 
satire  upon  the  popular  idea  of  Providence  in  the 
Spaccio}  There  Mercury,  on  one  of  his  visits  to 
Sophia,  relates  a  number  of  things  he  has  to  see  carried 
out,  by  the  order  of  Providence,  about  the  little  hamlet 
of  Cicala.  They  are  none  of  the  cleanest — the  number 
of  melons  that  are  to  ripen  in  Franzino's  garden  and 
that  are  not  to  be  gathered  till  over-ripe,  of  jujubes 
that  are  to  be  picked  from  Giovanni  Bruno's  tree,  that 
arc  to  fall  to  the  earth,  or  that  are  to  be  eaten  by 
worms  ;  how  Vasta,  in  curling  the  hair  on  her  temples, 
is  to  overheat  the  iron  and  burn  fifty-seven  of  them, 
but  is  not  to  scorch  her  head — and  so  on.  These 
unpleasant  details,  however,  are  only  a  prelude  to  a 
philosophical  conception  of  the  divine  action.  God, 
it  is  said,  does  not  provide  for  this  and  that  in- 
dividual as  occasion  arises.*  He  "  does  all  things  with- 
out deliberation,  anxiety,  or  perplexity  :  provides  for 
innumerable  species  and  an  infinite  number  of  in- 
dividuals, not  in  any  order  of  succession,  but  at  once 
and  all  together  :  He  is  not  like  a  finite  agent,  doing 
things  one  by  one,  with  many  acts,  an  infinite  number 
of  acts  for  an  infinite  number  of  things,  but  does 
everything,  past,  present,  and  future,  with  one  simple 
and  unique  act."  ^  So  the  knowledge  of  God  is  simple, 
containing  implicitly  in  itself  all  things  that  are  or 
happen  in  the  extended  universe  (the  explicate  unity). 
It  is  only  to  our  confused  vision  that  this  divine 
government  does  not  appear  just  and  holy.  Mercury 
advises  Sophia  to  put  more  strength  and  warmth  into 

'  Lig.  452.  3  AT.  '  Of.  Lucretius,  ii.  1093  ff.  *  Lag.  454.  6. 


\i^ 


BRUNO'S  RELIGION 


297 


her  prayers,  for  to  the  mind  of  the  infinite  the  small 
is  as  important  as  the  great !  "  The  least  things  are 
just  as  much  a  care  to  the  gods  as  the  principal  things, 
for  the  greatest  and  chiefest  cannot  subsist  without 
the  least  and  lowliest."  The  minutest  trifle  in  the 
order  of  the  universe  is  important,  for  great  things  are 
composed  of  little,  little  things  of  least  things,  and 
these  of  atoms  and  minima.^  The  act  of  the  divine 
knowledge  is  the  substance  of  all  things  :  all  are  there- 
fore known,  ordained,  foreseen.  "Divine  knowledge 
is  not  as  human,  which  comes  after  things,  but  is 
before  and  in  all  things,  and  if  it  were  not  so,  things 
could  not  be  causes  or  agents,  either  proximate  or 
secondary."^ 

Thus  the  order  of  nature  is  fixed  and  eternal, 
ordained  and  foreknown  from  all  time.  We  have 
seen  that  Bruno  rejected  the  superstitious  idea  that 
comets  and  other  heavenly  wonders  had  a  super- 
natural meaning  ;  and  that  he  found  the  truest  signs 
of  divinity  in  the  orderly  course  of  nature.^  Miracles 
he  explained  either  through  imposture  or  through 
sympathetic  magic.  Along  with  these  he  rejected  also 
what  may  be  called  the  morbid  side  of  mediaeval 
Christianity — its  constant  dwelling  upon  the  physical, 
sensational  aspects  of  Christ's  life,  suflMsrings,  and 
death,*  its  appeal  to  the  hysterical  in  man.  Against  a 
religion  of  incoherent  personal  emotion  and  brute 
ignorance,  he  would  set  one  of  humane  love  and  of 
reasoned  knowledge.  The  chief  value  of  the  New 
Testament,  in  his  eyes,  was  its  preaching  of  "the 
Gospel   law   of  mutual  love,"  which  the   tyranny  of 

^  Lag.  455.  35.     Cf.  De  Jmmensoy  ii.  13.  310,  31 1.  ®  Lag.  456.  7. 

^  Cf.  the  mockery  of  Momus  in  the  Spaccio  {sub  Oriortj  Lag.  p.  543}. 

*  Sig.  Sig.  Op.  Lat.  ii.  2.  190. 


I 


*  Ml 


l» 


i 


Man  and 
God. 


li 


1) 


\i 


w 


298 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Rome  had  violated.^  The  religion  to  which  he  gave 
his  adherence  was  that  which  raised  the  dead,  healed 
the  sick,  gave  to  the  poor ;  not  the  contrary  form  to 
which  the  Inquisition  had  brought  the  Church  in 
Catholic  lands. 

With  great  boldness  Bruno  drew  from  his  concep- 
tion of  the  Infinite  the  consequence  that  there  can  be 
no  action  of  the  finite  upon  the  infinite,  no  change  or 
effect  in  God  produced  through  man.  A  practical 
corollary  of  this  was  the  argument  for  freedom  or 
thought.  The  virtue  of  Judgment,  in  the  SpacciOy  has 
entrusted  to  it  the  defence  of  the  true  law,  and  the 
removal  of  unjust  or  false  laws,  dictated  by  enmity  to 
the  peace  and  happiness  of  the  human  commonwealth. 
It  shall  kindle  and  fan  the  appetite  for  glory  in  the 
human  breast,  as  the  only  sure  stimulus  for  inciting 
men  to  the  heroic  deeds  that  increase,  maintain,  or 
strengthen  republics.  But  it  shall  not  pay  heed  to 
what  men  imagine  or  think,  provided  their  words  and 
deeds  do  not  corrupt  the  peace  of  the  realm.  Deeds 
are  its  only  concern,  and  it  has  to  judge  the  tree,  not 
by  the  fineness,  but  by  the  goodness  of  its  fruits. 
Heaven  is  not  interested  in  any  way  in  what  does  not 
interest  man ;  it  is  moved  and  angered,  not  by  any- 
thing done,  said,  or  thought  by  men,  except  in  so  far  as 
the  welfare  of  republics  is  endangered.  Gods  would 
not  be  gods  if  they  were  either  pleased  or  displeased, 
grieved  or  delighted,  by  what  men  did  or  thought ; 
they  would  be  more  needy  than  men,  would  be  as 
dependent  on  men  as  men  are  on  themselves  for 
utility  and  profit.^  The  gods  are  beyond  all  passion  : 
they  have  active  anger  and  pleasure  only,  not  passive. 

^  Orat,  Consol.  Op,  Lot.  i.  i,  51  j  cf.  i.  3.  4. 
•  Cf.  Lucretius,  ii.  646  :  "  Omms  enim  per  $e  drvcm  natura  necesmt"  etc. 


II 


THE  BIBLE'S  TEACHING 


299 


Therefore  they  do  not  threaten  punishment  or  promise 
reward  for  good  or  evil  that  results  in  them,  but  for 
that  committed  on  peoples  and  in  the  human  societies 
which  they  foster  by  their  divine  laws  and  statutes,  since 
human  laws  do  not  suffice.  The  gods  do  not  seek  the 
reverence,  fear,  love,  worship,  or  respect  of  men,  for 
any  other  end  or  utility  than  that  of  men  themselves. 
Glory  cannot  be  added  to  the  gods  from  without ;  they 
have  made  their  laws  not  to  receive  glory  but  to 
communicate  glory  to  men.  The  sole  sphere  of  justice 
is  the  moral  actions  of  men  with  regard  to  other  men  ; 
inward  sins  are  sins  only  so  far  as  they  have  outward 
eflTect,  and  inward  justice  is  not  justice  without  out- 
ward practice.^  In  the  Cena  Bruno  had  already  made 
practical  use  of  this  principle  in  maintaining  that  the 
Scriptures  teach  not  science,  but  an  ideal  of  conduct,  ^„^^f'^^*^ 
and  therefore  that  any  argument  from  them  as  to  the  science  but 
actual  constitution  of  the  world  is  devoid  of  com-  its  aim. 
pelling  force,  while,  on  the  other  side,  no  scientific 
theory  or  hypothesis  can  be  ruled  out  simply  because 
it  is  contradicted  by  any  statement  in  the  Scriptures. 
They  were  written,  not  in  the  service  of  our  intellect 
to  instruct  us  in  philosophy,  but  for  the  grace  of  our 
mind  and  heart,  ordaining  by  their  laws  what  should  be 
our  behaviour  in  the  moral  life.  The  Scriptures  were 
written  in  the  language  and  adapted  to  the  intelligence 
of  the  vulgar,  the  people  of  the  time.  '*A  historian 
making  use  of  words  which  the  ordinary  man  could 
not  understand,  would  be  absurd  ;  and  still  more  so 
would  be  one  who  desired  to  give  to  a  whole  people  a 
law  and  model  of  life,  if  he  were  to  employ  terms 
which  he  alone  or  very  few  could  understand,  and 
should  waste  time  over  matters  indifferent  to  the  end 

^  Lag.  463.  464. 


i, 


r      ' 


300 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


). 


w 


i 


for  which  the  laws  were  ordained.  For  this  reason 
Alghazel  said  that  the  function  of  the  books  of  the 
law  was  not  so  much  to  probe  the  truth  of  things,  or 
speculation,  as  to  promote  good  customs,"  and  to 
provide  for  the  welfare  of  republics  and  of  humanity. 
To  use  the  terms  of  science  where  there  is  no  need,  is 
to  ask  that  the  vulgar,  the  foolish  many,  from  whom 
only  conduct  is  required,  shall  have  a  special  com- 
prehension,— to  ask  that  the  hand  shall  have  the  eye, 
whereas  it  is  not  made  by  nature  to  see,  but  to  work, 
and  to  obey  the  eye.^ 

The  revelation  of  the  Scriptures  is  accordingly  re- 
duced to  that  of  a  moral  ideal,  to  be  enforced  upon  the 
ordinary  man  by  the  threat  of  future  punishment  and 
promise  of  future  reward  ;  but  it  is  an  ideal  which  the 
wise  man  would  acquire  by  the  light  of  reason  alone, 
and  which  he  would  pursue  for  its  own  sake. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  ceremonies  and  worship 
I  of  the  Church  were  never  attacked  by  Bruno,  nor  did 
he  ever  place  himself  in  open  hostility  to  it ;  while  he 
submitted,  formally  at  least,  to  the  rites  of  the  Pro- 
testant churches  in  Geneva  and  Helmstadt.  The 
grounds  of  this  outward  conformity  may  have  been 
various  :  Bruno  had  no  interest  in  speculative  theology, 
and  probably  kept  an  open  mind  towards  the  prevailing 
dogmas  and  the  ceremonies  that  symbolised  the 
truths  contained  in  them.  He  believed  with  Pom- 
ponazzi,  and  others  after  him,  that  religion  is  a  good 
thing  for  the  many,  the  foolish  and  ignorant  of  the 
world,  while  knowledge  or  philosophy  takes  its  place 
with  the  wise.  The  former  must  be  governed  by  laws 
which  they  have  blindly  to  obey,  hence  the  supernatural 

*  Com,  Lag.  169.  17  fF. ;  cf.  Spinoza,  Tractatus  TAeoIogico  folituus^  eap.  ch.  14  and 
15,  and  preface,  §  24:  "Scripturam  rationem  absolute  liberam  rclinquere  et  nihil 
cum  philosophia  commnne  habere." 


Mi 


II 


RATIONALISM  IN  BRUNO 


301 


sanction    required  ;    the   latter   pursue  the  true  good 
without  this  stimulus,  by  virtue  of  reason.     But  for  the 
sake  of  the  many,  the  few  must  conform  in  outward 
practice  with  the  religion  of  their  state.^     Brunnhofer 
goes  so  far  as  to  see  in  this  the  idea  of  Lessing,  that 
religion  is  a  means  whereby  men  are  gradually  educated 
upwards  to  a  true  knowledge  of  God, — leading  them 
from  the  state  of  darkness  and  savagery  to  that  of 
moral  behaviour,  at  which  point  only  the  full  light  of 
science  and  philosophy  takes   the  place   of  religion.^ 
There  was  a  religion,  however,  for  the  few  as  well  as 
for  the  many,  for  the  wholly  civilised  as  well  as  for  the 
semi-barbarians  of  Europe, — the  philosophical  religion 
of  the  Heroici  Furori,     Another  reason  for  his  con- 
formity was  that  Bruno  regarded  the  historical  religions 
as  allegories,  or  metaphors,  of  truth.     Not  that  it  was 
for  every  one  to  say  what  was  metaphorical  merely, 
what  truth  or  fact  :  in  the  hands  of  Jews,  Christians, 
and    Mahomedans,   and   the  many  sects  of  each,  the 
same  Scripture  met  with  as  many  interpretations  as  the 
number  of  the  sects.^     The  interpretation  of  the  divine 
words,  uttered  by  inspired  prophet  or  poet, — for  the 
divine  inspiration  was  not  given  at  one  place  or  one 
time  only, — was  again  the  work  of  the  wise  few. 

Bruno's  own  leaning  was  towards  Rationalism, — as 
in  his  interpretation  of  the  Trinity,  of  Creation,  of  the 
Incarnation,  of  Immortality,  of  Providence.*  In  this  he 
was  only  following  LuUy  and  Nicolaus  of  Cusa,  who 
also  "  demonstrated  "  some  of  the  deepest  of  Christian 
doctrines,  interpreted  in  their  own  way.  Yet  Bruno 
was  by  no  means  a  thorough  Rationalist :  there  remained 

*  Cf.  what  is  said  of  the  danger  of  preaching  determinism  to  the  many,  in  Inf.^ 
L^g.,  317.  II,  and  Her.  Fur.^  Lag.  619.  20. 

Giordano  Bruno's,  fyeltanxchauung^  etc.,  pp.  23,  24. 

•  Cena,  Lag.  171,  172.  *  l^tde  Berti,  Docs.  xi.  and  xii. 


7 


\> 


II- 


"!      :\ 


til 


302  GIORDANO  BRUNO  part 

always  a  sphere  within  which  Faith  only  was  avaUable, 
to  which  neither  reason  nor  intellect  could  penetrate. 
We  remember  that  he  ridiculed  Lully  for  attempting 
to  demonstrate  some  of  the  particular  doctrines  which 
"are  revealed  to  the  worshippers  of  Christ  (^Christicoli) 
alone,    are   contrary  to   all   reason,  philosophy,  other 
faiths  or  superstitions,  and  are  capable  of  no  demonstra- 
tion, but  admit  of  faith  only."  ^     It  is  improbable  that 
any  ironical  meaning  should  be  read  into  the  words  ; 
for  the  distinction  between  faith  and    knowledge  or 
science,  between  theological  and  philosophical  discussion, 
between  the  supernatural  light  and  the  light  of  nature 
or  reason,  occurs  again  and  again,  not  only  in  Bruno's 
replies  to  the  Inquisitors  of  Venice,  but  in  the  published 
works.     Here  and  there  he  deprecates  the  taking  of 
his  statements,  should  they  conflict  with  or  tend  to 
weaken   the    accepted   faith,    as    "assertively"    made, 
and  claims,  like  Copernicus,  the  right  of  arguing  for 
any  thesis  which  is  "  more  in  harmony  with  our  sense 
and  reason,  or  at  least  less  out  of  harmony  with  them 
than    the    contradictory   thesis,"    however    high    the 
authority  of  the  latter  may  be.^     Discreet  theologians 
would  fix  no  limit  to  natural  reasonings,  however  far 
these  went,  provided  they  did  not  determine  against 
the  divine  authority,  but  subordinated  themselves  to  it.* 
Even   the   Heroici   Furori  disclaims   any  supernatural 
reasoning  or  revelation.     "  If  there  is  another  order, 
above  the  natural,  which  either  destroys  or  corrects  the 
latter,  I  believe  in  it,  and  may  not  dispute  about  it,  for 
I  do  not  reason  in  any  other  than  a  natural  spirit." 
He  is  dealing  with  Philosophy,   not  Theology.*      In 
other  words,  Bruno  refuses  to  dogmatise,  just  as  he 

J  Comp.  Arck,  art.  Lull.,  Op.  Lau  ii.  2.  42. 

2  Op.  Lat.  ii.  2.  78  (preface  to  Triginta  SigtUi) ;  cf.  i.  1.  82  {Acrotlmu$\  and  the 
Spaccic  {supra,  p.  253).  »  Causa,  Lag.  267.  7.  *  L^g.  693.  22. 


1.1' 


II 


THE  TWOFOLD  TRUTH 


303 


condemns  dogmatism  in  others  ;  philosophy  or  science 
should  be  allowed  to  pursue  its  own  course,  irrespective 
of  religion,  and  untrammelled  by  the  Church,  so  long 
as  it  does  not  attack  the  authority  of  the  Church,  and 
thereby  weaken  the  forces  that  make  for  peace  and 
harmony  among  men.^  Short  of  that,  entire  freedom 
of  thought  should  be  allowed.  Sometimes  it  might  be 
well  that  the  wise  and  heroic,  as  well  as  the  others, 
should  submit  and  humble  the  light  of  reason  received 
from  God,  "  the  mark  of  divinity  hidden  in  the  sub- 
stance of  our  nature,"  if  some  higher  light  forbid  or 
warn.  But, — **  In  matters  of  philosophy  at  least,  by 
whose  free  altars  I  have  taken  refuge  from  the  threaten- 
ing waves,  I  shall  listen  only  to  those  doctors  who  bid  us 
not  close  the  eyes  but  open  them  as  widely  as  we  may."  ^ 
It  has  been  suggested  that  Bruno,  like  many  others 
who  were  unstable  in  the  Church,  made  use  of  the 
subterfuge  of  the  twofold  truth  ;  ^  in  other  words,  that 
he  professed  to  disbelieve  theologically  what  he  accepted 
as  philosophical  truth  :  or  that  he  held  one  and  the 
same  proposition  to  be  ^ue  to  sense  and  reason,  i.e.  to 
harmonise  with  all  other  "  natural  "  knowledge,  and  yet 
to  be  false  to  faith,  i.e.  inconsistent  with  revealed  truth. 
But  no  theologian  denied  more  strenuously  than  Bruno, 
in  spite  of  occasional  lapses,  the  possibility  of  two 
kinds  of  truth.  There  were  indeed  two  kinds  of 
evidence:  "one  from  the  light  of  our  own  senses 
and  rational  inference,  such  as  we  require  in  speculative 
sciences,  in  the  arts,  and  in  practical  life,  where  true 
and  false,  good  and  evil,  are  apprehended  by  human 
reason  and  natural  light ; "  the  other,  from  light  of  a 
foreign,  namely,  a  divine  source.     For  as  God  neither 

^  Cf.  the  passage  in  the  Infinite  referred  to  above,  Lag.  317.  11. 
*  Op,  Lat.  i.  3.  6.  3  E^^  i,y  Sigwart.     Cf.  supra,  p.  75. 


i     ! 


'  II 


Fi    i; 


\ 


n 


HI 


304 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


deceives  nor  is  deceived,  and  is  not  envious,  but  good 
in  the  highest  degree— is  indeed  truth  and  goodness 
itself ;  so,  when  he  speaks  to  us  of  occult  things,  of 
mysteries,  it  must  be  evident  that  everything  he  pro- 
poses for  our  belief  is  true,  and  that  everything  he 
proposes  for  our  doing  is  good.     But  God  is  also  the 
Author  of  nature,  of  our  senses,  of  our  eyes,  and  of 
that  truth  and  evidence  which  is  in  them  and  according 
to  them ;  truth  does  not  contradict  truth,  goodness  is 
not  opposed  to  goodness.     The  word  of  God  that  is 
spread  through  the  parts  of  nature.  His  hand  and  in- 
strument,—for  Nature  is  either  God  himself,  or  the 
divine  force  manifest  in  things,— is  not  opposed  to  the 
word  of  God,  from  whatever  other  part  or  prmciple  it 
springs.^     There  could  be  no  clearer  assertion  of  the 
right  of  philosophy  and  science  to  pursue  their  own 
way  in  the  discovery  of  truth.     Nothing  revealed  from 
above  can  conflict  with  truth  acquired  by  the  discursive, 
slow-moving  human    reason,   nor  on  the  other   hand 
can  any  real  truth  arrived  at  by  science  ever  contradict 
the   pure,   genuinely  -  revealed,   word   of  God.      The 
sphere  of  faith  is  separated  from  that  of  reason  ;  faith 
follows   the   authority   of    revelation,   is   an   infallible 
certainty  equal  to,  if  not  greater  than,  that  of  sense- 
knowledge  and  the  intuition  of  first  principles.     Re- 
vealed truths  are  outside  the  sphere  of  sense  and  reason, 
not,  however,  as  opposed  or  contrary  to  the  truths 
belonging  to  that  sphere,  but  as  above  them.     While 
philosophical  faith  enables  us  to  act  according  to  reason 
and  human  nature,  guiding  us  by  principles  innate  in 
ourselves,  to  the  perfection  of  our  natural  condition, 
theological  faith  leads  us  by  supernatural  principles  to  a 
supernatural  end,  to  become  formed  in  the  likeness  and 

1  SmmMy  Op.  Lat.  u  4.  lOO,  lOi  (sub.  EviJmtia), 


II 


II 


MEDIAEVAL  RATIONALISM  305 


in  the  knowledge  of  God.^     Neither  must  we  call  to 
the  bar  of  reason  what  is  above  reason,  summon  before 
our  tribunal  "  cases "   of  eternity,^  nor  on  the  other 
hand  must  faith  be  allowed  to  prejudice  the  discovery 
of  truth  by  natural  methods  :  if  so,  it  becomes  a  danger 
and  a  snare.^     Bruno  was  therefore  a  Rationalist  only 
in  a  limited  sense  :  while  he  claimed  for  the  philosopher 
entire  freedom  of  interpretation  of  religious  dogmas  or 
legends,  the  interpretation  was  to  be  governed  not  by  the 
facts  of  ordinary  knowledge,  but  by  the  mystical  in- 
tuition of  divine  truth,  given,  in  inspired  moments,  to 
the  heroic  soul.     There  were  two  types  of  rationalism 
in    mediaeval    philosophy— that    of    Averroes,    which 
sought  to  supplant  the  positive  religions  by  a  religion  of 
philosophy,  and  that  of  Scotus  Erigena,  which  aimed  at 
upholding  popular  faiths  while  allowing  the  philosopher 
freedom  of  thought  in  interpreting  the  doctrines  these 
faiths  involved.     Bruno's  rationalism  is  clearly  of  the 
second  type,   although  personally  he  disliked  all  pre- 
vailing religions  for  the  reasons  already  given.*      All 
positive  religions  expressed  for  him  one  and  the  same 
truth,   some   more,   some   less   adequately,  —  that  the 
supreme  end  of  human  activity  is  the  union  of  the 
soul  with  God,  whereby  it  becomes  one  with  God  and 
is  raised  above  the  sphere  of  sense  and  reason,  above 
nature,  out  of  the  ordinary  cycle  of  human  life  and 
human  death.     That  which  of  all  others  most  nearly 
approached  his  ideal  was  the  half-mythical  religion  of  Egyptian 
the  Egyptians,  from  whom  indeed  he  believed  the  later  k'Ssm. 
religions,  as  well  as  the  earlier  philosophies,  to  have  been 
mspired.      The  Egyptian  worship  of  the  gods  in   the 
form  of  living  animals  was  symbolic  of  the  truth  that 


^  Loc.  c'n.  p.  99,  siJ>  Fides. 
*  Eg'  Inf.  Lag.  378.  16, 


■  lb.  8.  Auctorttas  i  cf.  Causa^  Lag.  271.  40. 
*  Cf.  Tocco,  Conferen^ay  p.  50  ff. 


ll 


■  I 


ii  <l 


lit 


n 


306 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


God  is  in  all  things :  "  Animals  and  plants,"  says  Jupiter 
in  the  SfacciOy  "  are  living  effects  of  nature,  and  nature 
is  nothing  but  God  in  things.     Diverse  things  represent 
diverse  deities,  and  diverse  powers."  ^     God  is  in  all 
things,  but  not  fully  expressed  in  each,  "  in  some  more, 
in  some  less  excellently,"  in  some  one  divine  attribute 
<»■  power  predominates,  in  some  another.      Thus  the 
viper  or  the  scorpion  represents  Mars^  the  cock  or  the 
lion  the  Sun^  because  of  their  greater  affinity,  respec- 
tively, with  these  deities,   or  rather  with   the  divine 
powers  which  the  deities  embody.     For  as  divinity  is 
communicated  in  a  divine  scale  downwards  to  nature, 
so  from  the  light  that  is  reflected  in  natural  things  we 
may  rise  to  the  divine  life  that  is  above  them.     It  was 
on  these  sympathies  between  animals,  plants,  metals,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  various  attributes  of  divinity  on 
the  other,  that  genuine  magic  and  divination  depended. 
The  Magi  ascended  by  the  same  scale  of  nature  to  the 
highest  divinity,  by  which  that  divinity  itself  descended 
to  the  least  of  things,  in  its  self-communication.     Their 
ceremonies  were  not  vain  imaginations,  but  living  voices 
that  reached  the  very  ears  of  the  gods.     "  These  wise 
men  knew  God  to  be  in  things,  divinity  to  be  latent  in 
nature,  acting  in  and  scintillating  diversely  from  diverse 
subjects,  and  making  them  to  participate  in  itself,  as  in 
its  being,  life,  and  intelligence."  ^     Of  Jupiter,  Venus, 
and  the  rest  is  said  what  Bruno  no  doubt  thought  of 
Christ,  and  other  founders  of  religion,  that  they  had 
been  mortal  human  beings.     What  men  adored  was 
not  Jupiter,  as  a  divine  being,  but  divinity,  as  expressed 
in  Jupiter  :  in  this  or  that  man  were  worshipped  the 
name  and  symbol  of  a  divinity  which  in  their  birth  com- 
municated  itself  to   men,  and   with   their  death  was 


^  Lag.  529  ff. 


*  Sfaccio,  Lag.  p.  530. 


tl 


(• 


II 


FINITE  SOUL  AND  DIVINE  MIND     307 


thought  to  have  completed  its  work  and  to  have  re- 
turned to  heaven.i     But  divinity  is  communicated  not 
only  through  these  divinely  chosen  human  vessels,  but 
through  earth,   and  sun,  and  moon,  the  planets,  the 
stars,  and  all  that  is  in  them  :  one  divinity  under  in- 
numerable names,  according  to  the  innumerable  modes 
m  which  it  is  diffused.     Endlessly  varied  also  are  the 
methods  by  which  it  must  be  sought,  under  conditions 
appropriate  to  each  thing,  while  it  must  be  honoured  and 
worshipped  with  endlessly  different  rites,  because  the 
kinds  of  favour  we  seek  to  obtain  from  it  are  beyond 
number.     Later  religions  had  transformed  for  the  worse 
what  to  the  Egyptians  was  merely  a  fable  or  metaphor, 
by  which  a  mystery  above  the  reach  of  sense  was  ex- 
pressed, or  presented  to  the  mind  in  a  sign  or  symboL^" 

How  Bruno  understood  the  relation  of  the   finite  The  finite 
human  soul  to  the  divine  mind,  or  to  the  soul  of  the  f„lt 
universe,  it  is  not  easy  to  determine,  and  it  is  doubtful 
whether  he  ever  made  it  clear  to  himself     Men,  as 
natural    beings,  enter  into   the   determinate   order   of 
Nature,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the  divine  power  that 
moves  matter  to  life.     This  divine  power  is  the  soul  in 
all  things,  everywhere  "  one  mundane  spirit,  wholly  in 
the  whole  and  in  every  part  of  it,  producing  all  things  in 
each  according  to  the  conditions  of  matter,  time,  and 
place."     Men,  for  example,  are  not  descended  from  one 
parent  only,   but  have  come  to  life  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  nature,  in  different  places  and  at  different 
times ;  hence  the  difference  between  the  races.'     We 
have  seen  that  Bruno  also  reverts  repeatedly  to  the 

I  ^cm,  53,  2  oe  Immcmc,  Of.  Lat.  i.  2.  ,72. 

a.  i,  f' f;'""'."'-  ■^:- ■•  ^:f^  '•=  "Every  land  produce,  ,11  kind,  of  animals, 
a.  .,  clear  from  inacce..,ble  ..land,,  nor  wa,  there  one  fir,t  wolf,  or  lion,  or  bnll 
from  which  all  wolve.,  lion,,  and  cattle  are   descended   and  transported  to  the,e 
uland^  but  at  every  part  the  earth  from  the  beginning  has  given  all  things  "  etc 


i 


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'  i 

,1 
[  I) 


308 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


idea   that   various   men    present   in   their    expressions 
various  animal  characters,  which  are  an  index  to  their 
inward  nature,  and  at  the  same  time  point  to  a  transi- 
tion from  a  previous  or  towards  a  future  state.^     And 
again  it  was  shown  how  animals  differed  from  men  not 
necessarily  in  degree  or  quality  of  mind,  but  only  in 
the  outward  organism  through  which  alone  the  mind 
could  express  itself.     It  is  clear  then  that  man  should 
have  no  higher  place  than  any  other  animal,  should 
stand  no  nearer  God  than  they  ;  yet  in  a  sense  he  does, 
for  the  human  state  appears  to  be  the  only  one  from 
which  the  soul  may  raise  itself  out  of  the  incessant 
flow  of  earthly  vicissitude,  and  enjoy  the  calm  of  eternal 
intellectual  union  with  God.^     The  soul  of  any  animal 
(or  plant  ?)  may  in  time,  however,  take  the  body  of  a 
man,  when  this  outlet  is  given  to  it,  just  as  that  of  a 
man,  should  he  refuse  his  opportunity,  may  sink  back, 
and  indeed  must  sink  back,  to  the  animal  state,  in  the 
never-ceasing  cycle  of  change.     But  what  precisely  is 
this  soul  that  passes  from  one  body  to  another,  perhaps 
from  one  star  to  another  ?     In  one  passage  we  read 
that  as  in  corporeal  matter  the  body  of  the  ass  does  not 
differ  from  that  of  the  man,  so  in  spiritual  matter  the 
soul  of  the  ass  remains  the  same  as  that  of  the  man  ; 
the  soul  of  either  is  not  different  from  that  which  is  in 
all  things,  i.e.  the  soul  of  the  universe.'     We  should 
then  have  to  assume  that  it  is  matter^  not  the  form  or 
soul,  that  differentiates  individuals.     According  to  the 
differences  of  the  organised  bodies  are  the  souls  that 
are  in  them;   or,  it  is  one  and  the  same  soul  which 
constitutes  the  vital  and  cognitive  principle  in  different 

*  Cf.  S/>acciOy  Lag.  411.  9  j   Her,  Fur,  662.  22  }  Cantus  Ctrcaeus  {Of>.  Lat.  ii.  i)  j 
De  Mmimo  (i.  3.  207) ;  De  Monade  (i.  2.  327),  and  iii.  261,  653 

«  Cf.  Plato's  Pkeedrus,  §  61.  ^  CaiaM^  Lag.  584. 


II  MEANING  OF  IMMORTALITY         309 

animal   bodies,  and    in   different    "worlds"    or   stars. 
The    individual   human    and   animal   souls   would    be 
merely    modes    of    the    one    earth -soul,  just    as   the 
different  star -souls  would    be   merely    modes    of  the 
one  soul  of  the  universe,  the  first  and  highest  emana- 
tion  of  divinity.     The  immortality  of  the  individual 
soul  would  mean  accordingly   its  reabsorption,  at  the 
close  of  its  bodily  life,  into  the  eternal ;  but  it  would 
be  impossible  then  to  ascribe  any  continuity  or  identity 
to   the  souls  of  two  beings  which  succeed  each  other 
in  nature.     This  impersonal  immortality  is  that  which 
is  most  prominent  in  the   Italian  dialogues  ;    it  gives 
place,    so    far   as   prominence   is    concerned,   to   quite 
another   standpoint   in    the  later  Latin  works.     Thus 
we  find  in  the  Causa  the  comparison  of  the  presence 
of  the   spiritual   in   matter   to   that   of  a   voice  in  a 
room  :  it  is  wholly  in  the  room  and  in  every  part  of 
the    room,   yet   it    is   only    one   utterance    that   is   so 
heard  in  the  different  parts.^     It  might  be  added  that 
the  different  degrees  of  perfection  or  of  divinity  in 
different   things   would    correspond   exactly   with    the 
differences  in  the  intensity,  vividness,  of  the  sound  in 
nearer  and  more  distant  parts  of  the  room.     As  matter 
itself  is  ultimately  one  with  spirit,^  the  outcome  of  this 
theory  is  an  extreme  Pantheism  ;   especially  as  in  the 
Causa  the  transcendent  Unity,  elsewhere  distinguished 
from  the  soul  of  the  universe,  is  disregarded.     Divinity 
constitutes  both  existence  and  essence  of  all  things,  and 
all  things  are  ultimately  one — God,  in  whom  individual 
beings  have  their  reality,  and  in  whom  each  is  one  with 
all  other  beings.     "  We  have  not  to  look  for  divinity 
at  a  distance  from  us,  for  we  have  it  with  us,  more 
truly  intimate  to  us  than  we  are  to  ourselves  "  ;  and  so 

'  Lag.  242.  3.  2  Cay^^  Dial  ^ .  ggp  Lgg  ^65,  38  ff. 


1! 


i 


'/ 


< 


r 


M 


4 


l! 


I* 


310 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


Optimism. 


with  all  other  finite  things.^  It  has  been  shown  also 
that  death  from  this  standpoint  is  merely  the  dissolu- 
tion of  a  composite  thing  into  its  immortal  elements, 
spirit  and  matter  ;  ^  death  is  a  change  of  "  accidents  "  to 
the  substance  (i.e.  of  qualities,  conditions),  never  a 
change  of  substance  itself.*  Not  only  we,  but  all  other 
substances,  spiritual  and  corporeal  alike,  are  beyond 
reach  of  death  ;  but  as  all  substances  are  ultimately 
one,  this  does  not  mean  a  peculiar,  personal  immortality 
for  each  of  us  as  separate  beings. 

It  follows  also  from  this  aspect  of  Bruno's  philo- 
sophy, that  as  all  things  are  divine,  so  all  are  good. 
The  forms  of  all  living  things — men,  animals,  metals, 
even  those  of  deformed  creatures — are  beautiful  and 
perfect  in  heaven  (i.e.  sub  specie  aeternitatis).'^  All 
things  being  subordinated  to  the  will  of  the  best, 
everything  is  good,  and  tends  towards  good  ;  the  con- 
trary is  only  apparent  when  we  refuse  to  look  beyond 
the  present,  as  the  beauty  of  a  building  is  not  manifest 
to  one  who  sees  only  a  part  of  it,  a  stone,  a  piece  of 
cement,  a  partition  wall,  but  is  clearest  to  one  who  can 
see  the  whole,  and  is  able  to  compare  part  with  part.^ 

But  there  is  another  aspect  of  Bruno's  theory  of 
kdividuai.*  the  relation  of  the  finite  individual  soul  to  the  uni- 
versal spirit,  according  to  which  every  finite  thing  has 
an  infinite  worth  from  the  very  fact  of  its  existence  as 
a  member,  or  part  of  the  universe.  It  is  in  this  phase, 
later  in  time  than  the  other,  but  never  completely 
dissociated  from  it,  that  the  real  contribution  of  Bruno 
to  the  history  of  philosophy  appears. 

It   is   foreshadowed  in  the  Heroici   Furori^  where 

^  Cena,  Lag.  128.  5  ;  cf.  Sfaccioj  533.  16,  539.  2,  and  Op,  Lat.  u  3.  146. 

^  Lag.  164.  18  ff. 

»  Lag.  202.  39  ff.,  238.  27  ff.,  303.  17,  317.  7,  409. 13,  547. 16  ;  Op.  Lat.  i.  3. 142. 

*  De  Umbris  (u.  i.  46}.  •  Inf.  303.  *i.  «  Lag.  66.  7. 


The  worth 


•  f 


II 


INDIVIDUAL  IMMORTALITY 


311 


the  pursuit  of  an  infinite  object  by  a  finite  intelligence 
is  justified  from  the  infinite  potentiality  of  the  latter,  as 
eternal  and  unlimited  in  its  capacity  for  delight  and 
blessedness.  The  infinite  desire  is  itself  a  pledge  of 
its  fulfilment  in  an  eternal  life.^  The  individual,  finite 
as  it  is,  must  realise  in  itself  the  whole  nature  of  the 
universe  to  which  it  belongs  ;  each  thing,  each  substance 
or  monad,  realises  in  the  course  of  its  life  all  other 
possible  existences.  Each  takes  on  successively  all  pos- 
sible forms,  just  as  at  every  moment  all  possible  forms  - 
are  actually  realised  in  the  universe  as  a  whole.  Each 
thing,  and  every  part  of  each,  present  to  us  the 
"  similitude,"  the  image  of  the  universe.  It  is  precisely 
the  thought  which  afterwards  loomed  so  largely  in  the 
philosophy  of  Leibniz,  that  each  monad  is  a  mirror  of 
the  universe.  The  transmigration  of  the  earlier  philo- 
sophy appears  in  a  far  nobler  light  in  this  phase.  The 
soul  of  man  does  not  change  in  itself  as  it  passes  \ 
through  its  innumerable  forms  ;  now  it  is  endowed 
with  the  "instruments"  or  members  of  the  human 
body  ;  anon  it  will  take  up  the  members  of  another 
body  ;  "  for  the  soul  which  has  now  the  bodily  organs 
of  a  horse  there  await  the  bodily  members  of  a  man 
and  of  all  other  kinds  of  being,  in  regular  series,  or  in 
confused  order  ;  the  death  of  the  present  members  has 
no  bearing  upon  the  fixture  life  and  its  innumerable 
forms.  The  soul  would  not  sufl^er  if  this  were  known 
to  it ;  the  wise  soul  does  not  fear  death,  sometimes 
desires  it,  and  goes  to  meet  it.  Before  every  sub- 
stance lies  eternity  for  duration,  immensity  for  place, 
omniformity  for  realisation."  ^     The  soul  is  not  limited 


II 


I 


^  Cf.  Bartholme8$  (vol.   i.    p.  124),  who  refers  to  Cardan  and  Campanella  as 
ofFcring  a  similar  "  proof"  of  immortality. 
2  De  fmm.j  Op.  Lat.  i.  i.  205. 


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GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


to  the  earth  alone,  but  has  the  infinite  worlds  before  it, 
for  its  dwelling-place.     It  is  owing  to  this  individual 
(indivisible,  therefore  unchanging)  substance — the  soul 
— that  we  are  what  we  are  ;  about  it  as  a  centre  there 
occur  in  each  life  continuous  **  massing  and  unmassing  " 
of  corporeal  atoms,  through  which  the  changes  of  form 
are  brought  about.     "  By  birth  and  growth  the  spirit- 
architect  expands  into  this  mass  of  which  we  consist, 
spreading  outwards  from  the  heart.     Thither  again  it 
withdraws,  winding  up  the  threads  of  its  web,  retiring 
by  the  same  path  along  which  it  advanced,  passing  out 
by  the  same  gate  through  which  it  entered.     Birth  is 
expansion  of  the  centre,  life  consistency  of  the  sphere, 
death  contraction  to  the  centre."     It  is  the  soul  that 
gathers  about  it,  groups  and  vivifies  the  atom-mass ; 
and  the  strongest  argument  for  its  immortality  is  that 
it  cannot  be  of  less  value,  of  inferior  condition,  than  the 
atoms  themselves  of  which  it  avails  itself  to  its  own 
ends,    and   which   are   in   their   nature    imperishable.^ 
Each  soul  exists  apart  in  its  own  unity  and  individu- 
ality ;  the  soul  of  the  universe  does  not  impart  any- 
thing  of  itself  to   the   souls  of  its  members.^     The 
hierarchy   of  souls   is   not   a   scale   of   beings   within 
beings,  but  a  multitude  of  realities,  co-existent  to  all 
eternity,  the  Monas  Monadum  at  their  head,  represent- 
ing perfectly,  completely,  at  every  moment  {i.e.  time- 
lessly),  the  reality  of  all  the  others,  yet  separable  from 
them.     Of  the  others  that  is  higher  which  knows  more 
perfectly,  and  in  closer  unity — that  is,  more  adequately 
— the  universe  to  which  it  belongs.     Thus  there  is  the 

>  De  Mmimo,  bk.  i.  (i.  3.  143).  There  also  it  is  said  that  the  transformations 
are  not  fortuitous,  but  depend  on  the  character  of  the  life  that  has  been  lived,  as 
Pythagoras  and  the  Platonists  taught. 

*  Bruno  "  inclines  "  to  this  view  only  in  one  of  his  latest  works,  the  Latnpas 
(voL  iii.  59),  but  it  is  clearly  implied  in  the  De  Minimo, 


II  THE  HIERARCHY  OF  SOULS  313 

daemon  or  soul  "  which  is  wholly  in  the  whole  extent 
of  the  life  of  the  earth,  by  the  life  of  which  we  live,  and 
in  the  being  of  which  we  are  ;  "  above  it  is  the  in- 
dividual soul  or  substantial  nature  which  is  in  the  wider 
extent  of  the  solar  system  to  which  the  earth  belongs  ; 
above  it  again  the  soul  of  the  whole  system  of  the 
universe;  and  highest  of  all  the  mind  of  minds— G(?^/, 
the  one  spirit  filling  all  things  wholly.^ 

So  in  the  Lampas  the  Intellectus  primus  is  said  to  be 
separable  from  particular  finite  intelligences.  It  does 
not  belong  to  their  substance  :  it  works  in  them,  but 
not  as  a  part  of  them.  It  does  not  gradually  leave  the 
being  to  which  it  has  presented  itself  when  that  begins 
to  decay,  but  simply  ceases  to  operate,  just  as  it  comes 
also  suddenly  to  each,  if  at  all.^ 

It  follows  that  each  of  the  lower  monads  is  so  far 
imperfect  that  it  is  never  at  any  one  time  all  that  it 
has   the   possibility   of  being  ;    the    eternal  essence   of 
humanity,  for  example,  the  truth  of  humanity,  its  ideal, 
is  realised  not  in  any  one  individual,  but  only  in  the 
species  as  a  whole,^  and  this  is  true  of  the  perfection  of 
every  other  species.     But  Bruno's  optimism  surmounts 
this  difficulty.     The  evil,  the  imperfection,  is  so  only 
to  the  individual,  and  in  that  particular  phase  of  its 
life.     Each  thing  has  a  double  tendency  and  a  double  ) 
striving— to  remain  in  the  state  in  which  it  is,  and  to  \ 
press  beyond  that  to  realise  new  forms.     But  each  thing 
has  in  itself  the  nature  of  the  whole — is  therefore  in  its 
inmost  nature  perfect.     It  is  imperfect  only  in  its  explicit 

1  De  Minimo,  ii.  ch.  6  {Oj>.  Lat.  i.  3.  208  ff.).  Cf.  i.  2.  80  :  "The  seats  of  the 
blessed  are  the  stars  j  the  seat  of  the  gods  is  the  ether  or  heavens  j  for  the  stars  I 
call  gods  in  a  secondary  sense  j  the  seat  of  God  is  the  universe,  everywhere,  the  whole 
immeasurable  heaven— empty  space,  of  which  he  is  the  fulness."  For  Bruno's 
Dcmonology,  'vide  i.  2.  61  {De  Immenso,  iv.  11),  and  i.  2.  399  {De  Monade). 

2  Lampas,  Op.  Lat.  iii.  48  j  cf.  Her.  Fur.  Lag.  741.  15. 

3  Her.  Fur.  Lag.  721.  33. 


iN 


ir 


!/ 


1 


1 1 


1'    Wf 


w 


3H 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


nature — on  its  outward  side.  The  striving  after  new 
life  is  due  to  the  felt  conflict,  or  want  of  harmony, 
between  what  it  has  in  it  to  become — its  inner  self — 
and  what  it  has  actually  become,  the  limited  form  in 
which  it  appears.  On  the  one  hand  evil  is  necessary 
for  good,  for  were  the  imperfections  not  felt,  there 
would  be  no  striving  after  perfection  ;  all  defect  and 
sin  consist  merely  in  privation,  in  the  non-realisation  of 
possible  qualities.  "It  would  not  be  well  were  evil 
non-existent,  for  it  makes  for  the  necessity  of  good, 
since  if  evil  were  removed  the  desire  of  good  would 
also  cease."  ^  In  its  whole  life,  however,  the  soul  will 
realise  all  good,  and  therefore  is  only  per  accidens  im- 
perfect. On  the  other  hand,  however  mean  in  itself  at 
any  moment,  it  is  a  necessary  part  of  the  whole,  and 
therefore,  relatively  to  the  whole  it  is  good.  "  If  we 
look  to  the  order  of  the  universe  it  will  appear  that 
every  action  and  effect  is  good  by  way  of  necessity,  for 
even  the  things  which  appear  the  most  trifling  and  sordid 
are  parts  of  greater  and  more  noble  things,  as  the  form- 
less are  parts  of  the  formed,  the  least  are  necessary 
elements  of  the  great,  the  great  of  the  greatest ;  and 
as  the  less  cannot  subsist  without  the  least,  so 
neither  can  the  greatest  without  the  great.  All  beings, 
therefore,  of  whatsoever  nature,  are  good,  if  they 
are  rightly  considered,  not  less  good  than  greater 
things,  if  we  take  into  account  the  fact  that  the 
goodness  of  the  whole  depends  on  the  goodness  of 
its  parts."  ^ 

Every  part,  every  individual  in  the  universe,  diflfers 
from  every  other ;  each  has  itsown  inalienable  individuality 
by  which  it  stands  out  from  all  others  and  is  itself.  So 
far  was  this  principle  carried  by  Bruno  that,  as  we  have 


*  Lampasy  Op.  Lat.  Hi.  21  j  cf.  23. 


«  lb.  p.  108. 


II 


GOD  IN  NATURE 


315 


seen,  he  denied  that  any  body  could  ever  occupy  the 
same  place  twice ;  the  planets  moved  not  in  circles  or 
regular  paths,  but  ever  in  spiral  course,  so  that  at  each 
moment  their  places  were  other  than  at  any  prior  or 
later  moment.  No  two  circles,  no  two  lines  in  nature, 
were  ever  exacdy  equal ;  hence  there  was  never  a  perfect . 
circle  nor  a  perfectly  straight  line.  The  principle  is  not 
at  all  an  epistemological  one.  It  does  not  mean  that 
we  could  not  distinguish  between  two  precisely  equal 
thmgs,  but  that  two  such  things  could  not  exist,  not 
even  in  the  minutest  forms  of  nature,  since  the  infinite 
variety  of  the  infinite  all  must  reflect  at  every  moment 
the  infinite,  eternally  realised,  thought  of  the  One 
Mind. 

There  are  accordingly  three  aspects  of  God  in  Bruno's\God 
philosophy— three  diff^erent  standpoints  from  which  He 
may  be  approached.     The  first  is  that  of  natural  religion 
— God  in  Nature.      Nature  is  "the  omniform  image 
of  the    omniform   God — His   great  living  semblance 
{simulacrum)y  ^     Its  order  reveals  the  mind  from  which\ 
it  springs — the  stars  "  declare  the  glory  of  the  majesty/ 
of  God  and  the  works  of  His  hands.     Thence  we  are 
uplifted  to  the  infinite  cause  of  the  infinite  efl^ect."  ^ 
Nature   is  God   in   things,^   His   infinite   mirror,   the 
explicate^  unfolded,  extended,  immeasurable  world,  and 
He  is  implicitly  everywhere  in  the  whole.*     There  is,) 
however,  no  argument  from  the  world  to  God's  existence.'^ 
From  the  first  the  infinite   power  and  goodness   are 
assumed,    and    the    universe,    in    Bruno's    thought,    is 
simply  a  broad  general  revelation  of  what  each  one  of 
us  may  find  in  himself^ 


m 

,ature. 


If 


«  Op.  Lat.  i.  2.  51  J  i.  I.  68. 


*  Op.  Lat.  i.  I.  205. 


*  1.  2.  151. 
•  De  Immensoj  bk.  i.  ch.  10-13. 


1.  I.  241. 


'il^J 


if 


» 


I 

1 


■  1 


I  1 


I 


God  in  tts. 


316 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


The  form  which  the  cosmological  argument  takes  in 
Bruno  is  that  as  individual  things,  taken  singly,  must 
be  referred  each  to  a  finite  principle  and  cause,  a  finite 
effect  implying  a  finite  power  ;  so  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  universe  of  things,  the  innumerable  individuals  in 
immeasurable  space  must  be  referred  to  an  infinite  first 
cause.  But  to  our  thought  the  universe  is  only  an 
inciting  cause  ;  we  cannot  know  God  or  anything  of 
God's  nature  from  it  further  than  an  architect  or 
sculptor  can  be  known  from  one  or  all  of  his  works. 
The  beauty  and  majesty  of  external  nature  leads  us  to 
aspire  to  God,  its  source  ;  but  a  nearer  spring  of  know- 
ledge is  in  ourselves.  «  We  are  led  to  regard  divinity 
not  as  without  us,  separate  or  distant  from  us,  but  as 
within  ourselves  (since  it  is  everywhere  wholly),  for  it 
is  more  intimate  to  us  than  we  can  be  to  ourselves,  since 
it  is  the  substantiating  and  most  essential  centre  of  all 
essences  and  of  all  being."  ^  It  is  from  these  two 
aspects  of  his  philosophy,  the  identifying  of  nature  with 
God,  and  the  identifying  of  the  true  being  of  each  of 
us  with  God,  that  Bruno  has  been  described  as  a  Pan- 
theist. So  far,  however,  as  this  term  implies  the  identity 
of  the  individual  things  with  each  other,  the  conception 
that  all  things  are  one,  not  in  the  sense  of  forming  a 
unity  of  differents,  but  in  the  sense  of  an  indifference 
or  uniformity  of  all,  the  term  "Pantheism"  would 
give  a  very  false  impression  of  Bruno's  religious 
belief  It  is  neither  the  Pantheism  which  reduces  all 
to  a  lifeless  one,  in  which  all  diflferences  are  merged, 
nor  that  which  breaks  up  the  one  into  a  many  in 
which  all  difi^erences  are  lost ;  but  the  Pantheism  of 
a  living,  self- manifesting  One,  which  is  throughout 
eternity  unfolding  itself  in  the    diverse  units   of  the 

^  op,  hat.  i,  1.  68,  etc. 


II 


GOD  IN  HIMSELF 


3i7i 


world— a  pantheism  not  different  from  that  of  any  of 
the  higher  religions. 

Neither  in  nature,  however,  nor  in  ourselves,  in  the  God  in 
soul  of  man,  is  the  whole  being  of  God  to  be  found.  "'™^^- 
Could  we  indeed  see  the  substance,  the  truth  of  our- 
selves, could  our  eye  in  seeing  itself  see  all  things,  as 
the  eye  of  God  in  seeing  other  things  sees  itself, — then 
it  would  be  possible  to  understand  all  things  and  to 
create  all  things,  for  we  should  then  in  reality  be  God. 
We  never  penetrate  to  the  deep-lying  individual  in  our- 
selves, but  see  only  the  accidents,  the  externals  ;  as  we 
never  see  our  own  eye,  but  only  its  reflection  from  a 
mirror,  so  our  intellect  cannot  see  itself  in  itself,  nor 
anything  else  in  itself,  but  always  some  external  form, 
semblance,  image,  figure,  sign.^  [The  truth  of  things 
— God — everywhere  eludes  our  sense  and  our  reason, 
our  discursive  intelligence.     It  is  revealed,  ao  wo  .ha^  ei)\lJ^MK 

SMo,  only  to  our  intuitive,  comprehensive  glance a    V  \      J 

sudden  insight  for  which  reason  only  prepares  the  way.*^ 
Yet  even  this  insight,  ''  comprehension,"  is  not  "  com--^ 
prehending."  We  are  brought,  perhaps,  through  it 
into  contact  and  into  harmony  with  Him,  but  He  is 
never,  even  to  intuition,  knowable.  To  be  known 
would  mean  to  be  comprehended,  limited,  and  therefore 
finite. 

First,  then,  God,  the  Monad,  or  Mind,  is  the  true, 
innermost  nature  of  things  ;  "  in  themselves  things  are 
in  motion,  in  matter,  dependent,  defective,  are  rather 
non-entia  than  entia,  for  as  from  not-being  they  become, 
so  from  being  they  may  cease  to  be  ;  hence  they  truly 
exist  only  where  they  cannot  cease  to  be,  i.e,  m  the  first 
cause  and  unfailing  principle,  which  has  power  to  bring 

>  Cf.  Op.  Lat.  n.  3.  90  {De  Imag.  Comp.).      "  Intellect "  is  here  use.i  in  a  general 
sense,  not  in  the  special  one  of  "  intuitive  thought." 


(« 


I 


4 


3i8 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


I' 

I*  \\ 


1^1) 


\ 


them  forth  when  it  will.  Therefore  they  are  more 
truly  in  the  Monad  itself,  and  consequently  are  more 
truly  known  in  it,  in  simplicity  and  togetherness,  where 
all  things  are  one  in  an  ineffable  sense,  without  distinc- 
tion, distribution,  or  number."  ^  God  is  the  source  of 
the  determinations,  the  forms  of  all  things.  "  The  first 
measure  is  Mind  itself:  for  all  measure  receives  its 
denomination  from  mind  "  ^  (mensura^  mens),  "  One  is 
minJy  everywhere  wholly,  giving  measure  to  all  things ; 
one  intellecty  giving  order  to  all  things  ;  one  lovey  pro- 
ducing harmony  between  all  things,"  *  The  first 
section  of  the  Praxis  Descensus  sums  up  the  relation, 
the  meaning  of  "creation,"  thus:*  —  "God  is  the 
universal  substance,  being,  by  which  all  things  are; 
essence,  the  soul  of  all  essence,  by  which  whatever  is, 
is ;  more  intimate  in  every  being  than  its  form  or  its 
nature ;  for  as  nature  is  the  ground  of  the  being  of 
each  thing,  so  the  deeper  ground  of  the  nature  of  each 
thing  is  God." 

In  the  second  place,  the  order  and  life  of  things  has 
its  source  in  God,  as  the  Monas  ordinatrix ;  the  whole 
order  of  nature,  both  as  it  is  simultaneously,  as  it  has 
been,  and  as  it  shall  be,  lies  "  complicitly,"  grasped  in 
one  thought,  and  realised  in  one  act,  in  his  Mind. 
"  What  immutable  substance  wills,  it  wills  immutably, 
i.e.  it  wills  necessarily,  not  as  determined  by  an  alien 
will,  which  enforces  the  necessity,  but  of  its  own  will ; 
this  necessity  is  far  from  being  contrary  to  liberty  ; 
liberty  itself,  will,  and  necessity  are  one  and  the  same  " 
(in  God).*  Divine  necessity  differs  from  natural  causa- 
tion, the  sequence  of  causes  and  effects,  in  that  in 
nature  the  causes,  will,  and  knowledge  may  be  frus- 

•  Summa^  Op.  Lat.  i.  4.  1 17.     It  does  not  imply  their  formal  identity. 
^  Art,  adv.  Math.  Op.  Lat.  i.  3.  16.  •  i,  2.  346.  *  i.  4.  73.  »  i.  4.  95, 


II 


THEISM  IN  BRUNO 


319 


trated,  the  effect  averted  ;  but  divine  necessity  is  neces- 
sity in  all  respects — to  will,  to  know,  to  act,  are  one. 
In  the  third  place,  God   is  above  and  beyond  both  Theism, 
natural  things  and  their  order  in  the  universe  as  a 
whole.     In  the  later  works,  it  is  no  longer  as  a  mystical 
being — inaccessible,  because  wholly  abstract,  empty  of 
content,  the  sublimated  unity  of  things — that  God  is 
posited.     The    Neoplatonism   of    the    earlier    works, 
although  remaining  in  the  language  and  even  in  much 
of  the  thoughts  of  the  later,  has  been  overcome  in  fact.^ 
God  is  indeed  transcendent,  beyond  the  world,  but  He 
is  so  only  as  comprehending  the  world  in  Himself,  its 
source,  its  truth — yet  more  than  the  source  of  things  or 
of  their  order.     In  all  other  things  we  may  distinguish 
between  existence  and  essence  {i.e.   the  fact  of  their 
being,  their  historical  presence  in  the  world,  and  their 
nature,  through  which  they  are  what  they  are)  ;  in  God 
alone  these    are  one  or    indistinguishable.^     God  and 
things  differ  by  a  greater  difference  than  substance  and 
accident — i.e.  things  are  not  accidents,  or  "  modes  "  of 
God.     They  differ  from  one  another  by  their  special 
differentiaey  but  resemble  in  other  respects.    God  differs, 
not  as  marked  off,  limited  by  them,  but  as  containing 
them  all  in  essence,  presence,  power  and  eternity.^     He 
is  not  apart  from  things,  but  in  them  ;  in  them  not  as 
comprehended  or  contained  by  them,  but  as  compre- 
hending and  containing  them,  and  as  the  essential  basis 
of  all  things,  the  centre  of  the  universal  life  and  sub- 
stance.*    He  is  all  things  in  all,  because  He  gives  exist- 
ence to  all ;  He  is  none  of  them,  because  above  all, 
transcending  each  and  all  in  essence,  nobility  and  power.* 

*  For  Bruno's  revolt  against  the  mystical  in  Neoplatonism,  cf.  De  Imm.  v.  i.  i 
{Op.  Lat.  i.  2.  118),  and  cf.  viii.  p.  298  ff.  313  j  D^  Mon.^  p.  410. 

«  Op.  Lat.  i.  4.  79.  3  lb.  83.  *  lb.  85.  5  lb.  86. 


\    ! 


I. 


320 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


i 


m  I 


V\ 


J. 
^1 


He  comprises  all  things,  not  as  excluded  and,  as  it  were, 
looking  upon  them  from  apart  and  from  above,  for  He 
is  also  comprised  by  all  things.  He  is  comprised  also 
not  as  included,  contained,  repressed  within  alien  limits, 
for  He  also  comprises  all  things.  He  is  therefore 
within  all  things,  as  He  who  gives  essence  to  all  things  ; 
and  is  the  basis  of  all  being,  the  heart  and  source  of  all 
life.  He  comprises  all  things,  as  excelling  them, 
governing,  moving,  disposing,  limiting — Himself  un- 
limited.^ Hence,  also,  as  we  saw.  He  is  nameless  ; 
names  are  for  distinguishing,  defining,  separating  from 
other  things,  but  He  is  above  all  difference,  other- 
ness, diversity,  multitude^;  or  again,  all  names,  all 
predicates,  attributes,  are  equally  true  of  Him, 
because  He  comprises  all  in  Himself.  It  is  in  this 
sense  that  He  is  Monad  of  Monads^  entity  of  entities^ 
"  in  whom  are  all  things,  who  is  in  none,  not  even 
in  Himself,  because  He  is  indivisible,  and  is  simplicity 
itself."  ^ 

Bruno's  philosophical  religion  is  in  the  end  a  theism, 
but  theism  of  a  purely  intellectual  or  rationalist  type. 
The  natural  world  is  after  all  nothing  over  against  God 
who  subsists  in  absolute  simplicity — as  Mind  ;  in  abso- 
lute immobility,  changelessness — as  Intellect  (the  World 
of  Ideas)  ;  in  absolute  perfection,  self-sufficiency,  and 
self-satisfaction — as  Love,  or  Holy  Spirit.  Over  against 
this  self-contained  Trinity,  the  changing  and  passing 
world  is  a  non-ens:  as  //  changes  not,  neither  can  it 
know  change  :  to  know  change  would  be  a  change  in 
itself— -its  knowledge  is  as  immutable,  as  simple  as  itself. 
"  Although  we  see  things  come  into  being  that  before 

*  op  Lat.  i.  4.  p.  99.  God  is  not,  however,  passively  comprised  :  cf.  iii.  509  {De 
return  pr'mcip.)  :  " Mens  eminentius  Ma  in  toto  ita  ut  etiam  sit  tota  extra  totum  et  supra 
totum,^*  etc. 

*  Op.  Lat.  iii.  42  {Lampas),  cf.  i.  4.  85,  86.  »  i.  3.  146,  147  (Z)«  Min.) 


m 


n         TIMELESS  REALITY  OF  THINGS     321 

were  not,  and  the  world  itself,  as  is  believed,  was  pro- 
duced out  of  nothing— a  new  thing,   yet  from  this 
change  and  novelty  of  effects,  no  change  in  His  action 
or  power  can  be  inferred,  for  He  exists  above  all  motion 
and  all  vicissitude,  an  unchanging  agent  in  eternity  • 
not   as   artificers,   or   material    principles,   moved    by 
changmg  dispositions  to  new  willing,  new  faculty,  new 
effects,  but  from  the  instant  of  eternity,  above  time  and 
above  change.  He  creates  all  that  which   becomes  in 
time,  in  change,  in  motion,  in  vicissitude.     Before  and 
above  time  and  motion  there  is  not  always  time  and 
motion,  but  there  we  find  divinity,  immutable  and  in- 
variable.    He  has  from  eternity  willed  that  to  be  which 
.  now  IS."     «  There   liberty  makes  necessity,   necessity 
attests  liberty."  ^     «  Past  is  not  past  to  it  (the  First  In- 
telligence),  nor  future  future,  but  the  whole  of  eternity  is 
present  to  it  as  one  whole,  all  together,  in  its  complete- 
T^CJ     ^^^"""^^  ^^^^  i^  recent  idealist  philosophy,  has 
the  World  of  Ideas  maintained  its  hold  so  powerfuUy 
over  a  mind  whose  whole  trend  was  towards  a  natural- 
istic  interpretation  of  things.     The  religious  instinct 
dominates  to  the  last  Bruno's  thought ;  these  passages 
are  from  the  very  latest  of  his  works.     Each  and  all  of 
his  speculations  on  nature,  on  its  elements,  its   indi- 
viduals, its   general   laws,  bring  him   back  to  the  all- 
embracing  Mind,  in  which  nature  has  its  source,  but 
which  nature  by  no  means  exhausts.     So  his  specula- 
tions on  the  nature  of  man,  on  the  moral  life,  on  the 
inspiration  of  the  artist  and  of  the  generous  human 
soul,  the  hunter  after  truth,  point  again  to  a  thought,  a 
worid  above  nature,  revealed  neither  capriciously  nor 
yet  to  the  natural  /acuities  of  the  seeker,   but  to  a 
divinely  implanted  power  of  intuitive  insight.     It  was 


SumntOy  Op.  Lat.  i.  4.  93,  95. 


2  Lampas,  Op.  Lat.  iii.  45. 


fl 


I 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART  II 


322 

an  attempt,  more  consistent  perhaps  and  more  thorough 
than  any  other  has  been,  to  combine  the  independence 
and  freedom  and  worth  of  individual  souls,  of  the  finite 
many,  in  one  thought  with  the  absolute  unity,  necessity, 
eternity  of  God.  And  this,  after  all,  is  the  one  aim 
philosophy  has  to  achieve. 


11  < 


U 


In 


CHAPTER   IX 

BRUNO    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    PHILOSOPHY 

Perhaps  no  philosopher  of  equal  originality  and 
strength  has  had  so  little  apparent  influence'upon 
contemporary  or  later  thought  as  Bruno.  His  name 
hardly  occurs  m  any  of  the  writers  of  his  own  or  the 
fol  owing  century  ;  when  it  does  occur,  it  is  mentioned 
only  that  the  author  may  make  sufficiently  clear  the 
discrepancy  between  the  actual  or  reputed  views  of 
Bruno  and  those  of  himself.     Yet  it  is  easy  to  under- 

exercised;    neither    m    France,    in    England,    nor   in 
Germany  could  his  prolonged  stay  have  failed  to  rouse 
in   some  at  least  of  his  hearers,   sympathy  with  his 
lofty  conception  of  the  universe  and  of  man's  destiny  • 
through  them  Bruno's  books  must  have  passed  into' 
the  hands  of  many  philosophers,  both  before  and  after 
they  were   placed   upon    the  Index  Expurgatorius   in 
1     ?;  u     ..  "^«"'"^'   consequence   of    this    public    ban 
would  be  that  Bruno  was  no  longer  quoted  or  referred 
to  as  an  authority ;   but  all  thinkers  of  sceptical  or 
liberal  tendency  would  at  least  be  eager  to  read  his 
works  when  the  opportunity  offered  itself.     Owine  to 
the  great  scarcity  of  the  copies  and   their  increasing 
costliness,  this  would  become  a  chance  less  and  less 


3^4 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


If 


1^  ! 


sonm. 


frequent  as  time  went  on.     Even  so,  however,  one 
may  trace  how  his  ideas  filtered  through  many  mmds 
and  helped  to  determine  the  course  of  modeniphdQ:^ 
-sophy.  of  whick.3nuio  has  as  high  claims  as  either 
_Bacon  or  Descartes  to  be  named  the  founder. 

A,;j,v.  ■ In  English  writers  the  only  contemporary  notices 

of  Bruno  which  have  been  found   are  m  two  small 
works  on  mnemonics,— one  by  a  professed  opponent  of 
Bruno's  friend,  Alexander  Dicson,  the  other  by  the 
poet  Thomas  Watson.     The  former,  the  Anti-dicsonus 
of  a  certain  Cambridge  scholar,  G.  P.,  of  date  1584, 
was  dedicated  to  Thomas  Moffat  or  Moufet,  a  well- 
known  philosopher  and  doctor  of  medicine,  from  whom 
support  was  hoped  against  the  "  Dicson  School.       Ot 
this  school  Bruno,  who  was  then  in  England,  must 
have  been  regarded  as  a  member.     The  author  is  a 
follower  of  Ramus,  and  ridicules  the  art  of  memory 
which  consists  in  locis  et  umbris  and  its  «  self-parading 
memoriographs,   such    as    Metrodorus,   Rossehus,   the 
Nolan,  and  Dicson  ;  these  are  the  reefs  and  whirlpools 
in  which  the  purer  science  of  memory  would  have  been 
wholly  destroyed,  had  she  not  clung  to  her  faith  in  the 
Rameans  as  a  pillar  of  refuge."     It  is  an  interesting 
note,  for  it  shows  that  Bruno's  antipathy  to  Ramus 
was  returned  by  Ramus'  followers,— an  antipathy  so 
difficult  to  understand  when  we  remember  that  both 
were  reformers  in  philosophy,  and  that  both  zealously 
attacked  Aristotle.     The  work   against  which  G.  P. 
writes   is  Alexander  Dicson's    De   Umbra    rationu   tt 
iudicii,  she  de  memoriae  virtute  Prosopopoeia,  dedicated 
to  the  Earl  of  Leicester  (1583).      There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  it  is  based  upon  Bruno's  De  Umbris  Idearum 
(1582),  with  which  it  agrees  both  in  substance  and  in 
metaphysical  basis.     Dicson,  as   already  pointed  out» 


-"^^^-^--J^-^-ii- 


II 


WATSON :  BACON 


325 


was  one  of  Bruno's  mouthpieces  in  an  Italian  dialogue. 
Here  at  least  is  an  avenue  for  influence  from  Bruno 
upon  English  thought.     Unfortunately  Dicson's  work 
is  not  of  great  value,  and,  with  the  man  himself,  has 
long    been    forgotten.      But    G.    P.'s    reliance    upon 
Moffat's  support  to  repel  "  the  attacks  of  Scepsius.^ 
and  the  wrath  and  violence  towards  me  of  the  whole 
school  of  Dicson,"  shows  that  on  the  side,  at  any  rate, 
of  his  mnemonic  doctrine  Bruno's  teaching  had  not 
fallen  on  wholly  barren  soil.     Again,  he  is  spoken  of  Thoma, 
with  respect,  if  not  quite  with  admiration,  in  Thomas  ^"""'■ 
Watson's    dedication    of   his    Compendium    Memoriae 
Localis  (n.  d.,   but  probably  1585)  to  Henry  Noel, 
Queen  Elizabeth's  courtier.     "  I  very  much  fear  if  my 
little  work  {nugae  meae)  is  compared  with  the  mystical 
and  deeply  learned  Sigilli  of  the  Nolan,  or  with  the 
Umbra  artificiosa  of  Dicson,  it  may  bring  more  infamy 
to  its  author  than  utility  to  the  reader."    The  scholarly 
poet,  terse  and  brUIiant  Latinist,  could  hardly  have  felt 
in  harmony  with  the  passionate  but  confused  thought, 
the  virile  but  unscholarly  style  of  Bruno ;  yet  the  art 
of  memory  he  professes  in   this  compendium    is   no 
other   than    that  of  Bruno  and    of  Dicson,    and   the 
"  Memoriographs,"  whom  "  G.  P."  attacks. 

If  we  turn  to  Bacon,  who  was  in  London  while  Bacon. 
Bruno  was  with  Mauvissiere,  already  in  high  favour 
with  the  Queen,  and  at  home  in  the  society  of 
Burghley,  Leicester,  Walsingham,  and  Sidney,  we  find 
entire  neglect  of  Bruno's  philosophy.  Only  in  one 
passage,  perhaps,  does  Bacon  mention  Bruno's  name ; 
it  is  in  the  introduction  to  the  Historia  Naturalis  et 
Experimentalist     After  a  list  of  the  philosophers  of 

>  "  Scepsius  »  behind  whoie  authority  Dicon  shelter.,  i,,  according  to  G.  P. 
Diaon  him«lf.  .  ^^^  ,„j  jpedding,  ii.  .3 


/ 


326 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


ir 


w 


Greece,  and  the  remark  that  "all  these  made  up  at 
their  pleasure  feigned  accounts  (or  "plots    )  of  worlds 
as   of  fables,  and  recited,   published   these    fables   of 
theirs— some  more  consistent  certainly  and  probable, 
others   harder   of    belief,"    he   adds   that   among   the 
moderns,    through    the    instruction    of    schools    and 
colleges,  the  imagination  is  kept  within  stricter  bounds, 
yet    men    have    not    ceased    imagining.       "^^trizzi, 
Talesio,    Bruno,    Severin    of    Denmark,    Gdbert    ot 
England,  Campanella,  have  tried  the  stage    acted  new 
plays  which  were  neither  marked  by  applaudmg  favour 
of  the  public,  nor  by  brilliancy  of  plot."     The  names 
are  those  of  men  with  whom  it  is  no  shame  for  Bruno 
to  stand  side  by  side ;  and  one  and  all  are  instances  of 
Bacon's   incapacity  for  grasping  the  true  direction  in 
which  the  thought  of  his  time  was  flowing  ;  but  the 
mere  mention  of  Bruno  in  such  a  context  implies  that 
his  works  were  still  read,  and  that  they  were  estimated 
at  a  high  value  by  the  lovers  of  "  philosophy.'      There 
are,  however,  many  points  of  contact  between  Bacon 
and   Bruno,    suggesting   an   influence,  indirect  if  not 
direct,    of  the   latter   upon   the   former.     Bacon  was 
perfectly  at  home  in  Italian  literature,  and  it  is  unlikely 
that  he   omitted   to   read   Bruno's    dialogues.      Two 
casual  but  significant  proofs  that  he  did  so  are,  the 
legend  related  of  Mount  Athos  and  of  Olympus  that 
men  had  written  in  the  ashes  of  the  sacrifices  offered 
upon  their  summits,  and  had  returned  the  following 
year  to  find  the  ashes  and  the  writing  undisturbed, 
the  inference  being  that  the  summits  of  these  mountains 
were  in  a  region  of  perpetual  calm  ; '  and  the  suggestion 

1  Histaria  Ventonm,  EUi.  and  Spedding,  ii.  p.  51  ;  cf.  iV<«'.  Org,  ii.  I2.  The 
wurcc  of  the  Mount  Athos  legend  «  certainly  Aristotle's  ProbUmata  (xxvi.  39  . 
while  that  for  Olympus  is  cither  SoUnus,  or  more  probably  Bruno,  m  the  Cena  de  le 


II  COMPARISON  WITH  BACON  327 

that  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies  may  be  in 
spiral  lines  instead  of  in  perfect  circles.^  The  latter 
especially  is  a  characteristic  thought  of  Bruno. 

Bacon,  like  Bruno,  was   a   believer   in   a   purified 
natural  magic,  the  handmaid  of  metaphysics,  "  because 
of  its  broad  ways  and  wider  dominion  over  nature."  * 
They  are  united  in  their  admiration  for  the  Book  of 
Job  as  a  compendium  of  natural  philosophy.     Bacon 
writes  that  "  if  we  take  that  small  book  of  Job  and 
diligently  work  through  it,  we  shall  find  it  full,  and,  as 
it  were,  pregnant  with  the  mysteries  of  natural  philo- 
sophy." *     Both  recur  with  conviction  to  the  saying  of 
Solomon  that  there  is   nothing    new  under   the   sun. 
"  As  to  novelty,  there  is  no  one  who  has  thoroughly 
imbibed  letters  and  philosophy,  but  has  had  it  impressed 
on    his    heart    that   there   is   nothing   new   upon   the 
earth."*     Deeper  harmonies,  if  not  more  suggestive, 
exist  between   the  two  reformers  of  philosophy  than 
these.     One  is  the  argument  against  authority,  against 
general    agreement,    against    antiquity    of    belief,    as 
grounds  or  reasons  for  belief,  and  the  special  applica- 
tion of  this  argument  to  undermine  the  hold  of  the 
Aristotelian  philosophy  upon  the  minds  of  men.     "  It 
is  the  old  age  of  the  world  and  the  fulness  of  years 
that  are  to  be  regarded  as  its  true  antiquity.     For  that 
age,  with  respect  to  us  ancient  and  older,  with  respect 
to  the  world  itself  was  new  and  younger."     **As  we 

Cenere  (Lag.  167.  13).  Bruno,  on  his  part,  refers  to  Alexander  of  Aphrodisias  j  it 
is  not  to  be  found,  however,  in  Alexander's  commentary  upon  the  Meteorologica 
(E.  and  S.  refer  to  Ideler,  i.  148). 

^  Nov.  Org.  i.  aph.  45.  »  Ih.  ii.  9. 

*  De  Augm.  i.  p.  466  j  cf.  Bruno's  Cena,  Lag.  177.  27.  Elsewhere,  however, 
Bacon  condemns  the  habit  of  "some  of  the  moderns,"  who  have  attempted  to  base 
natural  philosophy  upon  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  and  the  Book  of  Job,  and 
other  sacred  scriptures. — Nov.  Org.  i.  ax.  65. 

*  De  Augm.  i.  479,  and  Bruno,  passim. 


I 


•  > 


i 


I 

f 


328 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


expect  greater  knowledge  and  maturer  judgment  from 
an  old  man  than  from  a  young,  so  from  our  own  age 
we  should  expect  (if  it  knew  its  strength,  and  were 
willing  to  make  trial  and  to  put  it  forth)  far  greater 
things   than   from   old   times,"   etc.^      So   faith    and 
religion  are  to  be  kept  apart  from  investigation,  science, 
or  philosophy,  although  the  latter  does  not  on  that 
account  carry  us  away  from  God ;   the  one  shows  the 
will,  the  other  (natural  philosophy)  the  power  of  God.^ 
To  faith  are  to  be  given  the  things  that  are  of  faith,  to 
philosophy  the  things  that  are  of  philosophy.^     It  was 
on  the  same  ground  also — the  use  of  other  than  natural 
principles   to   explain   natural    phenomena — that   both 
Bruno  and  Bacon  condemned  the  physical  works  of 
Aristotle.     He  "  corrupted  natural  philosophy  with  his 
dialectics — gave  the  human  soul,  the  noblest  of  sub- 
stances,   a   genus   from   words   of   second    intention ; 
settled  the  business  of  the  dense  and  the  rare,  through 
which   bodies   occupy   greater   or   less    dimensions   or 
spaces,    by   the   feigned   distinction    between    act   and 
potency  ;  asserted  a  unique  and  proper  movement  of 
each  body,  being  more  concerned  for  an  answer  one 
might  make  in  a  discussion  and  to  have  something 
positive  in  words,  than  for  the  inward  truth  of  things, 
as  is  best  shown  by  a  comparison  of  his  philosophy 
with  the  others  celebrated  among  the  Greeks."     And 
Bacon,  like  Bruno  and  other  innovators  of  the  day, 
goes  back  to  Anaxagoras,  Leucippus  and  Democritus, 
Parmenides,  Empedocles,  Heraclitus,  whose  principles 
"  have  something  of  natural  philosophy,  and  savour  of 

*  Nov.  Org.  u  ax.  84  5  cf.  77  (the  argument  ex  consensu),  and  DeAugm.  i.  p.  458. 
In  their  note  E.  and  S.  refer  to  Esdras,  c.  14,  v.  10  :  "the  world  has  lost  its  youth, 
and  the  times  begin  to  wax  old  "  ;  and  to  Casmann's  Problemuta  Marina  (1596),  as 
well  as  to  Bruno's  Cena  (1584). 

«  Nov,  Org,  i.  89.  '  ^^*  »•  ^5- 


II 


BACON  :  METHOD 


329 


the  nature  of  things — experience,  bodily  existence, 
whereas  the  physics  of  Aristotle,  for  the  most  part, 
sound  of  nothing  but  dialectical  terms."  ^ 

The  false  straining  after  simplicity  of  explanation,  Method. 
the  tendency  to  seek  for  similarities  rather  than  differ- 
ences, to  expect  order  on  the  surface  rather  than  at  the 
root  of  things,  is  condemned  as  vigorously  by  Bruno  as 
by  Bacon,  although  not  placed  in  the  forefront  of  the 
theory  of  method,  as  it  is  by  the  latter  writer.  One 
of  the  Idols  of  the  Tribe  was — "  the  tendency  to  sup- 
pose greater  order  and  equality  in  things  than  is 
actually  to  be  found  ;  although  in  nature  many  things 
are  monodica  {i,e,  monadica^  unique),  and  full  of  imparity, 
yet  the  mind  feigns  parallels,  correspondences,  relations 
which  are  not.  Hence  the  erroneous  idea,  e,g,  that  *  in 
the  heavens  all  things  move  in  perfect  circles,'  rejecting 
utterly  spiral  lines  and  dracones  (except  for  the  name)  : 
hence  the  element  of  fire  and  its  sphere  were  intro- 
duced to  constitute  a  quaternio  with  the  other  three  that 
were  actually  perceived  by  sense,"  etc.^  These  things 
were  condemned  also,  and  for  the  same  reason,  by 
Bruno,  who,  however,  went  further,  and  insisted  on  the 
uniqueness  of  every  individual  existence  in  the  universe. 
Again  Bacon  retained  (without,  however,  giving  it  a 
place  in  his  philosophy)  the  scholastic  distinction  between 
divine  or  angelic,  intuitive,  knowledge,  and  the  acquired 
piecemeal  knowledge  of  man.  "  God,  the  inditer  and 
worker  of  forms,  and  perhaps  angels  and  (higher)  intel- 
ligences, know  forms  immediately  by  affirmation,  and 
from  the  beginning  of  their  contemplation.  But  that 
is  certainly  above  men  to  whom  it  is  conceded  only  to 
advance  in  the  beginning  by  negatives,  to  come  to  rest 
in  the  last  place  only,  in  affirmatives,  after  exclusion  of 


^  Nov.  Org.  i.  63  J  cf.  also  71. 


Ih.  i.  45. 


33° 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


u 


» 


Omnia 

animata. 


every  kind."  ^  In  Bruno  the  same  distinction  is  drawn > 
but  it  is  made  also  within  human  knowledge,  the  intui- 
tive knowledge  of  the  heroic  mind  being  the  same 
in  kind  as  that  of  the  higher  intelligences,  and  only 
different  from  that  of  God  in  that  it  does  not  create 
what  it  intuites.  So  the  scholastic  distinction  of  natura 
naturans  as  the  form  or  immanent  principle  of  things, 
and  natura  naturata  as  the  sum  of  things  actually 
existing,  the  outward  expression  in  matter  of  the  activity 
of  the  form — a  distinction  which,  in  Bruno,  is  tran- 
scended by  the  identification  of  one  with  the  other,  as 
two  aspects  of  a  higher  unity — also  reappears  in  Bacon's 
theory  of  form.  However  different  the  "form"  of 
Bacon  may  have  seemed  to  himself  from  the  scholastic 
"  form,"  it  is  still  the  immanent  cause  of  the  properties 
of  the  body  to  which  it  belongs,  or  in  which  it  adheres, 
and  as  such  is  actually  named  by  Bacon  the  natura 
naturans?'  So  with  Bacon,  as  with  Bruno,  Campanella, 
and  Telesius,  all  things  are  endowed  with  life,  with 
sensation,  with  soul,  which  is  the  inward  principle  of 
their  external  movements.  He  ridiculed  Gilbert,  who 
first  suggested  a  scientific  explanation  of  magnetism 
and  electricity,  and  put  forward  on  his  own  account  as 
a  theory  of  electrical  attraction  that  "  friction  excites 
the  appetite  of  bodies  for  contact,  which  appetite  does 
not  like  air  much,  but  prefers  something  else  which  is 
tangible."  The  phenomena  of  chemical  afllinity  and 
the  like  were  also  explained,  precisely  as  Campanella 
or  Cardan  would  account  for  them,  by  the  delight  in 
mutual  contact,  i,e,  by  an  inherent  sensibility,  and  desire 
or  striving  of  like  towards  like.'     In  both  Bacon  and 

•  NoFv,  Org.  ii.  15.     It  was  a  scholastic  distinction;  E. and  S.  illustrate  it  from 
Thomas  Aquinas*  Summa  Theologiae^  I™*,  q.  45  (E.  and  S.  i.  p.  2S9). 

•  Ib.u.  I. 

•  E.g.  ib,  i,  66,  where  are  added  "the  appetite  a  thing  has  to  return  to  it» 


I 


II  ATOMISM  AND  MATHEMATICS       331 

Bruno,  also,  this  universal  animism  is  combined  with  an 
atomistic  theory  of  mechanical  nature,  and  with  the 
belief  that  no  physical  phenomenon  is  understood  until 
it  can  be  expressed  in  mathematical  terms  :  **  the  more 
our  inquiry  inclines  to  simple  natures,  the  plainer  and 
clearer  shall  things  become  ;  for  we  shall  have  to  deal 
with  the  simple  instead  of  the  manifold,  the  computable 
instead  of  the  surd,  the  definite  and  certain  instead  of 
the  vague, — as  in  the  elements  of  letters,  and  the  notes 
of  harmonies,  and  an  inquiry  is  best  conducted  when 
the  physical  is  defined  by  the  mathematical."^  The 
last  result  of  analysis  is  not,  with  either  Bacon  or  Bruno, 
the  atom  of  the  Epicurean  physics,  viz.  an  immutable 
substance  floating  in  empty  space  ;  but  Bacons  part  iculae 
verae  are  much  more  confusedly  thought  out  than  the 
Italian's  theory — of  a  subtle  ethereal  matter  diffused 
throughout  the  universe,  and  of  the  denser  atoms  which 
are  in  constant  motion  within  it.  There  is,  however, 
the  same  perpetual  flux  and  reflux  in  matter  with  Bacon 
as  with  Bruno.2  In  the  last  resort.  Bacon  took  refuge 
in  a  hope  of  future  explanation — always,  however, 
by  simple,  positive,  computable  factors — regarding 
atoms  and  void,  as  on  a  par  with  materia  prima^  human 
abstractions,  entirely  unfruitful,  not  light -bringing 
"  anticipations  of  nature."  In  regard  to  the  relation 
between  the  human  understanding  and  nature,  both  had 
absolute  convictions  of  the  power  of  the  former,  directed 
by  the  rules  of  experience  and  limited  by  the  data  of 

natural  dimension  or  extension  (viz.  Elasticity),  the  appetite  to  conjugate  with 
masses  of  its  own  kind,  as  the  dense  to  the  sphere  of  the  earth,  the  rare  to  the  sphere 
of  the  sky."  These  are  described  as  really  "  physical "  kinds  of  motion,  not,  as 
Aristotle's  are,  "logical"  and  "scholastical."  Cf.  the  Natural  History,  E.  and  S. 
ii.  600,  602  ;  and  Bruno,  supra. 

1  Nov.  Org.  ii.  8. 

»  Vide  Bacon's  Essay  on  the  Vicissitude  of  Things  ;  and  for  his  Atomism,  the 
Eistoria  Demi  et  Rari  (E.  and  S.  vol.  ii.),  and  Cogit.  de  Natura  Rerum  {ib.  vol.  iii.). 


332 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


sensation,  to  comprehend  the  latter ;  but  while  Bruno 
saw  in  the  negative  limits  of  the  understanding  a  posi- 
tive hint  of  a  reality  beyond,  the  more  careful  Bacon 
saw  only  a  further  ground  for  falling  back  from  reason 
upon  faith.     Thus  the  incapacity  of  the  mind  to  rest 
in  any  finite  space,  without  thinking  of  a  space  beyond 
that  and  beyond,  or  of  imagining  a  body  than  which 
none  could  be  greater,  was  proof  to  Bruno  that  space 
itself  was  infinite,  and  that  body  or  matter  was  immea- 
surable, i,e.  infinite  in  extent  and  in  quantity.     Bacon 
also  makes  use  of  this  impossibility  in  the  human  in- 
tellect of  resting,  acquiescing,  at  any  point  as  a  finality. 
"  It  must  ever  pass  beyond — but  it  is  in  vain.     Thus  it 
is  unthinkable  that  there  should  be  any  extreme  or 
outermost  rim  to  the  world,  our  mind  always  of  neces- 
sity thinks  there  may  be  something  beyond  :  nor  can 
we  think  how  eternity  could  have  flowed  down  to  this 
day  :  the  distinction  between  an  infinity  a  parte  ante 
and  an  infinity  a  parte  post  cannot  be  maintained,  for  it 
would  follow  that  one  infinite  is  greater  than  another, 
and  that  an  infinite  is  used  up,  and  declines  into  a  finite. 
Similar  is  the  subtlety  about  lines  always  divisible  (how- 
ever  small   parts   we   take),    from    the   impotency  of 
thought."^     But  the  conclusion  drawn  is  simply  the 
positivist  one,  that  such  endless  questioning  after  the 
unknowable  is  profitless  and  absurd.     The  one  sees  in 
it  a  metaphysical  or  cosmological  argument — infinite 
capacity  for  knowing  implies  an  infinite  to  be  known, 
as  infinite  or  endless  desire  implies  an  infinite  or  limit- 
less good  :  the  other  a  methodological  argument  against 
attempting  to  fly  when  we  are  born  to  creep.     In  two 
other  cases  Bacon  rejected  the  work  of  Bruno,  and 
rightly,  viz.  in  regard  to  the  Art  of  LuUy,  and  the 

'  Nov.  Org.  1.  48, 


II 


ART  OF  LULLY 


333 


Art  of  Memory  ;  and  it  is  possible  that  he  may  have 
had  Bruno  in  his  mind  in  writing  both  passages.  "  Some 
men,  rather  ostentatious  than  learned,  have  laboured 
about  a  certain  method  not  deserving  the  name  of  a 
true  method,  as  being  rather  a  kind  of  imposture, 
which  may  nevertheless  have  proved  acceptable  to  some 
triflers.  Such  was  the  Art  of  Lully,  simply  a  massed 
collection  of  technical  terms.  This  kind  of  collection 
resembles  an  old  broker's  shop,  where  many  fragments 
of  things  are  to  be  found,  but  nothing  of  any  value."  ^ 
Again,  '^  there  exists  certainly  some  kind  of  art  (of 
memory),  but  we  are  convinced  that  better  precepts  for 
confirming  and  extending  the  memory  might  be  laid 
down  than  are  contained  in  this  art,  and  also  that  the 
practice  of  the  art  might  be  made  better  than  as  it  has 
been  received.  As  now  managed,  it  is  but  barren  and 
useless."  * 

On  the  Continent  it  was  rather  the  cosmological 
theories  of  Bruno  that  attracted  attention  ;  and  there, 
no  less  than  in  England,  every  suspicion  of  sympathy 
with  the  heretic  was  avoided.  Only  Kepler  had  the  Kepier. 
courage  to  complain  (as  a  letter  of  Martin  Hasdal  to 
Galilei  tells)  that  Galilei  had  omitted  to  make  praiseful 
mention  of  Bruno  in  his  Nuntius  Sidereus?  Galilei,  a 
thorough  diplomatist,  would  hardly  have  gone  so  far  :  * 
yet  in  the  metaphysical  basis  of  his  theory  of  the 
universe,  and  in  his  theory  of  knowledge,  he  only 
elaborates  ideas  already  suggested  by  Bruno.^  But 
Kepler,  fearless  before  men,  shrank  from  the  thought  of 
the   infinite  world   in  which   Bruno  found   a   glorious 

1  De  Augm.  vi.  ch.  2.  ^  /^,  v.  ch.  5.  3  fierti,  Vita  dt  G.  B.  p.  9. 

*  Vide  Cay  von  Brockdorff,  GaliUPi  Philoiophiscke  Mission  (Vierteljahrschrift  fur 
Wiss.  Philos.  und  Sociol.,  1902). 

"  Vide  the  Discorsi :  and  cf.  the  truculent  Brunnhofer :  '■'■  Galileo^  der  Brum 
ZugUich  ausbeutete  und  ignorirte  "  {pp.  cit.^  p.  69). 


(< 


334 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


freedom  for  the  play  of  his  mind.  Kepler  could  not, 
and  did  not,  give  up  his  enclosing  sphere  of  fixed  stars, 
shutting  in  the  solar  system  as  comfortably  as  the 
orange-skin  its  seeds,  not  accepting  the  giddy  hypothesis 
of  Bruno  that  each  of  the  stars  is  itself  a  sun,  with  a 
solar  system  of  its  own,  and  that  beyond  and  beyond, 
in  endless  series,  are  other  suns  and  other  worlds.^ 

Even  Vanini  the  unfortunate,  if  light-headed,  sceptic, 
who  in  1619,  at  Toulouse,  met  with  a  fate  similar  to 
that  of  Bruno,  but  more  horrible,  mentions  the  latter 
only  by  indication  in  his  earlier  work, — the  Amphi- 
theatre of  the  Eternal  Providence  (p.  359) — "  Nonnulli 
semiphilosophi  novi  have  said  that  beyond  the  last  sphere 
of  the  heavens  there  is  an  infinite  created  universe,  as  if 
from  God  no  finite  action  could  proceed.'*  ^ 

Of  the  philosophers  who  represent  the  main  line  of 
development  of  modern  thought  on  the  Continent  in 
the  seventeenth  century, — Descartes,  Gassendi,  Spinoza, 
Leibniz, — there  is  not  one  who  has  not  been  accused  of 
having  borrowed  his  chief  doctrines,  without  ac- 
Descartcs.  knowledgment,  from  the  Italian  philosopher.  Bishop 
Huet^  described  Bruno  as  the  antesignanus  of  the 
Cartesian  philosophy,  and  pointed  to  the  De  Immenso  et 
innumerabilibus  as  containing  indications  of  almost  all  its 
ideas.  The  charge  is  of  course  absurd  so  far  as 
Descartes'  characteristic  philosophy  is  concerned — the 
ideas   by  which   he    created    a   revolution   in  modern 

1  ride  Sigwart,  Kleine  Schri/ien,  vol.  i.,  on  Kepler :  he  refers  to  Opera,  i.  p.  688, 
and  vi.  p.  136. 

»  Fiorentinoy  in  Bnino,  Op.  Lat.,  vol.  i.  p.  xix.  The  full  title  of  Vanini's  work  is, 
*•  Amphitheatnim  aeternae  providentiae  divino-magicum,  christiano-physicum,  necnon 
astrologo-catholicum,  adversus  veteres  philosophos,  Atheos,  Epicureos,  Peripateticos 
et  Stoicos.  Auctore  Julio  Caesare  Vanino,  Philosopho,  Theologo,  ae  Juris  utriusque 
Doctor.  Lugduni,  1615."  With  his  remark  compare  Campanella,  ^idam  Nolenus 
(Metaphys.  ii.  1.  5). 

*  Censura  Philosopkiae  Carfesianae,  1689. 


II 


DESCARTES  AND  BRUNO 


335 


thought.     Bruno  indeed  begged  men  to  throw  over  all 
prejudices,  all  traditional  beliefs,  before  entering  upon 
the  study  of  nature  :   he  agreed  with  Descartes  there- 
fore  in   rejecting  wholly  every  authority  but    that  of 
man's  own  reason,  in  demanding  complete  freedom  of 
thought,  not  only  from  outward,  but  also  from  inward, 
subjective    fetters.       Most    nearly   he   approaches   the 
"Cartesian    doubt"    in    the    preface    to   the    Articuli 
adv.  Mathematicos}     "  As  to  the  liberal  arts,  so  far  from 
me  is  the  custom  or  institution  of  believing  masters  or 
parents,  or  even  the  common  sense  which  (by  its  own 
account)  often  and  in  many  ways  is  proved  to  deceive 
us  and  lead  us  astray,  that  I  never  settle  anything  in 
philosophy    rashly    or  without    reason ;    but   what    is 
thought  perfectly  certain    and   evident,  whenever  and 
wherever  it  has  been  brought  into    controversy,  is  as 
doubtful  to  me  as  things  that  are  thought  too  difficult 
of  belief,  or  too  absurd."     But  this  is  still  very  far  from 
the  universal  doubt  of  Descartes, — doubt,  not  of  this 
or  that  particular  opinion  or  belief,  but  of  all  possible 
beliefs.     Bruno's  aim  was  knowledge^  to  add  to  or  correct 
the  sum  of  general  opinion  as  to  the  world  as  a  whole, 
as  to  man's  relation  to  it  and  to  God  ;  Descartes'  was 
certainty^  to  find  a  basis  from  which  a  system  of  thought 
might  be  built  up  de  novo,  and  from  which  at  the  same 
time  a  secure  ground  for  morality  and  religion  might  be 
derived.     The  doubt  was  nothing  without  the  certainty 
to  which  it  led, — the  certainty  of  self-consciousness, — 
which,  as  it  has  been  said,  is  only  the  other  side,  the 
positive  expression  of  the  universal  doubt  itself.     On 
the  other  hand,  in  the  subsequent  steps  of  the  Cartesian 
philosophy, — the  arguments  on  the  nature  of  God,  and 
the  relation  of  the  infinite  to  the  finite  substances, — many 

1  op.  Lat,  I.  3.  4. 


336 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


touches  suggest  the  influence  of  Bruno's  comprehensive 
attempt  to  combine  a  phUosophical  pantheism  with  a 
scientific  atomism.  It  is  unlikely  that  Descartes  should 
have  been  ignorant  of  a  writer  well  known  to  Mersenne 
and  Huet.  The  former^  would  have  excused  Bruno 
"had  he  been  content  to  philosophise  upon  a  point, 
an  atom,  or  on  unity, — but  because  he  attacked  the 
Christian  religion,  it  is  reasonable  to  decry  him  as  one 
of  the  most  wicked  men  the  earth  has  ever  produced  !  " 
Certainly  the  fact  that  Descartes  nowhere  mentions  the 
guilty  philosopher  is  of  no  importance  in  deciding  as  to 
the  influence  of  the  latter  upon  him.^ 
Gassendi  i^  was  Only  natural   that  Gassendi's   critics  should 

i59^->6s5.  j^^^^  pj^^^j  j^j^  j^  ^  ^j^gg  relation  to  the  Nolan.     There 

is   no   improbability   in   the    idea   that   Gassendi  was 

attracted  to  the  latter  as  an  opponent  of  the  Aristotelian 

philosophy,  against  which  he  himself  had  already  written 

in   his   youth— although    no   part   of    the   work   was 

published  until  1 624.^     Both  also  approached  the  reform 

of  natural  philosophy  from  the  same  standpoint,  that  of 

sense-experience,  and  both  arrived  at  an  atomic  theory 

of  the  ultimate  constitution  of  nature.     Bruno,  before 

Gassendi,  had  attempted  to  place  the  ethical  teaching  of 

Epicurus  in  a  fairer  light  than  popular  prejudice  allowed, 

but  while  Gassendi  followed  Epicurus  in  his  atomism 

only  too  strictly,  Bruno  was  much  more  independent, 

and  advanced  much  nearer  to  the  modern  view.     So  in 

his  general  theory  of  the  system  of  the  world,  Gassendi 

stops  half-way — with  the  conception  of  a  limited  matter, 

but  in  an  endless  space,  of  a  beginning  for  the  world, 

1  Contre  rimpie'te  da  d/sistes,  athees  et  libertim  de  ct  temps  (1624,  p.  229,  234,  etc.). 

a  Fide  Bartholmess,  i.  pp.  257,  259.     Descartes,  like  Galilei,  was  careful  not  to 

prejudice  himself  in  the  eyes  of  the  Church.     For  Gassendi,  -w.  Gentzken,  Hiu.  PhiL^ 

P-  154- 

'  Exercltationes  paradoxicae  aJversus  Aristoteleos. 


II 


SPINOZA  AND  BRUNO 


337 


but  in  an  endless  time,  of  a  plurality  of  worlds  with  the 
earth  as  centre  of  our  system  :  here  also  it  is  Bruno  that 
is  the  more  advanced,  and  the  more  daring  thinker  ; — 
yet,  from    the   respect  with  which  Gassendi  writes  of 
Copernicus,  it  is  clear  that  his  sympathies  were  with  the 
new    hypothesis.       It   may   be    added   that   although 
Gassendi   rejected  the  notion  of  a  world-soul,  in  the 
ordinary  sense,  as  distinct  from  God,  and  that  of  souls 
of  the  individual  worlds,  or  of  stones,  etc.,  yet  he  too 
was  fain  to  explain  the  attraction  of  the  magnet  for  the 
iron,  of  the  earth  for  the  stone,  of  atom  for  atom,  by  an 
influence  passing  from  the  one  to  the  other,  by  which 
the  one  became  aware  of  the  other's  existence,  and  was 
impelled  towards  it,  i.e.  by  a  kind  of  sense,  or  feeling, 
a  soul,  which  was  at   the  same  time  the  principle  of 
movement. 

It  is,  however,  on  the  development  of  Spinoza's^  Spinoza. 
thought  that  the  most  direct  influence  of  Bruno  can  be 
shown.  Sigwart  ^  and  Avenarius  ^  have  proved  that  in 
preparing  the  short  treatise  on  "God,  Man,  and  his 
Blessedness,'*  Spinoza  must  have  had  the  Causa  and 
Infinito  of  Bruno  almost  before  his  eyes.  The  treatise 
consists  of  several  parts  which  are  more  or  less  in- 
dependent of  one  another,  and  which  represent  tentative 
approaches  towards  the  finished  Ethics ;  but  it  difl^ers 
from  the  Ethics  in  the  far  greater  prominence  of  the 
mystical,  Neoplatonist  element.     Pollock  suggests  that 

*  Of.  Brunnhofer,  p.  xix  :  "  The  longer  I  consider  the  question,  the  more  probable 
it  appears  to  me  that  Spinoza  would  have  been  impossible,  historically,  if  Bruno  had 
had  time  to  develop  the  rich  fulness  of  his  ideas  in  a  systematic  form."  Cf.  p.  81, 
where,  however,  he  lays  too  much  stress  on  verbal  analogies  between  Bruno's  Summa 
and  the  Ethica  of  Spinoza. 

'  Spinoza's  Neuentdeckter  Tractat  -von  Gott^  dem  Menschen^  und  dessert  Gluckseligkeit^ 
Gotha,  1866,  and  his  translation  of  this,  Kunur  Tractate  with  introduction  and 
notes.    Tiibingen,  1870. 

*  Die  Beiden  Ersten  Phasen  des  Spino%ischen  Pantheismus.     Leipzig,  1868. 


II 


338 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


II 


BRUNO  AND  SPINOZA 


339 


it  may  have  been  his  free-thinking  teacher  Dr.  Van  den 
Ende  who  introduced  Spinoza  to  Bruno's  writings : 
there  is  no  external  evidence  of  the  acquaintanceship, 
but  that,  it  is  needless  to  say,  is  of  slight  importance. 
Spinoza  certainly  read  Italian,  and  he  practised  m 
other  cases  the  same  neglect  of  authorities,  of  whose 
substance  he  was  making  use :  it  was  indeed  the 
custom  of  the  time— there  were  few  who  followed 
Burton's  example. 

There  are  certain  general  resemblances  between  the 
finished  philosophies  of  the  two  authors,  so  far  as  Bruno 
can  be  said  to  have  a  finished  philosophy.     The  first 
principle  of  both  is  the  unity  out  of  which  all  things 
spring,  to  which  all  return,  and  in  which  aU  have  their 
true  nature,  or  highest  reality,— a  unity  with  which  both 
identify  nature  and  spirit  alike,  and  which  is  for  both 
God.     God   is   accordingly  beyond   the   reach   of  all 
human  knowledge  ;  determination  is  negation,  limit,  by 
which  the  infinite  is  untouched.     All  attributes  in  God 
are  one  only,  or  none  ;  thought  is  one  with  extension, 
love  with  intelligence  ;  yet  in  strictness  God  is  neither 
thought  nor  extension,  intelligence  nor  love,  or  he  is 
these  in  another  than  our  human  meaning.     So  far  as 
this  central  thought  is  concerned,  it  is  Bruno  that  is  the 
deeper  thinker.    In  him  the  One  is  not  a  dead  negation, 
in  which  real  things  are  absorbed  to  the  loss  of  all  their 
reality  and  life,  as  it  is  with  Spinoza :   rather  it  is  a 
living  fountain,  gushing  forth  in  the  infinite  streams  of 
living  beings  :    the  whole  of  nature  is  the  expression' 
of  its  own  inward  being.     The  One  is  in  process  ;  the 
whole,  in  which  this  process  results,  is  a  harmony  every 
member  of  which  has  its  own  independent  reality  and 
worth,  over  against  all  others,  as  a  manifestation  of 
divinity.    The  life  of  the  one  is  that  of  its  members  ;  all 


are  necessary  to  it,  as  it  to  them.      Carriere^  indeed 
places  Bruno  above  Spinoza  as  having  found  in  the  one 
a  self-consciousness,  a  subject  infinite  in  that  it  knows 
itself  and  all  things  in  itself,  preserving  all  things,  as 
necessary  to  its  external   enjoyment  and  love  ;    while 
Spinoza  is  still  within  the  bonds  of  substance — in  God 
there   is  neither  understanding  nor  will,  in  Him  all 
difference  vanishes,  the  modes  are  an  illusion.     So  the 
Spinozistic    parallelism    between   thought    and   matter 
finds  its  counterpart  in  Bruno,  with  whom  all  that  is 
thoughtj  all  that  is  possible,  is  also  real,  or  actual,  her 
has  extended  or  material  existence.     It  is  true  that  this 
conception  is  much  more  precisely  expressed  in  Spinoza, 
with  his  clean-cut    distinction   between   the  world    of 
body  and  the  world  of  mind  or  ideas,  to  which  the 
possible  belongs,  but  it  was  a  distinction  which  he  could 
not  consistently  uphold  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  uni- 
versal  animism,   the    doctrine  that   to   every  material 
thing  or  event  there  corresponds  a  spiritual  reality  or 
process,  which  is  only  the  other  side  of  the  parallelism 
of  soul    and    body,    is    more    clearly    and   vigorously 
defended  by  the  earlier  philosopher.     The  natural  and 
the  spiritual,  matter  and  form,  are  not  two  principles, 
or  elements  which  combine  to  produce  a  given  result, 
or  which  harmonise  with  one  another  :   they  are  one 
and  the  same  thing,  and  their  truth  is  their  life,  their 
soul,  their  thought.      Bruno  was   in  earnest  with  his 
animism,  as  his  confident  belief  in  magical  correlations 
showed.  ^ 

From  their  principles  both  derived  a  conviction  of 
the  necessity  *  and  of  the  goodness  of  all  things,  but  it 

^  Moritz  Carriere,  Weltamchauung  der  Reformatiomzeity  p.  470. 

^  Cf.  Tocco,  Conferen%a^  P*  '5  >  Sigwart,  Neuentdeckter  Tractate  pp.  110-II3. 

^  E.g.  Bruno's  Acrot.  {Op.  Lat.  i.  i,  108). 


/ 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


The  short 
tractate. 


34° 

is  Bruno  rather  than  Spinoza  who  attempted  to  recon- 
dle  individual  liberty  with  determinism  m  the  uni- 
verse as  a  whole,  and  individual  moral  responsibihty 
with  the  necessary  goodness  of  the  all.  The  corre- 
sponding relativity  of  evil,  the  fallacy  of  "  fortune  or 
"  chance  "  (as  anything  but  «  uncertainty  "  of  the  finite 
mind),  were  already  asserted  by  Bruno,  and  his  ideas 
as  to  the  relation  between  the  religion  of  the  Church, 
or  the  teaching  of  the  Bible,  and  the  investiga- 
tions  of  science,  are   precisely   those   which   Spinoza 

adopts. 

In   the  De  Deo  seu   Homine,  however,  the  corre- 
spondences are  much  greater  and  more  definite  between 
Spinoza  and  Bruno,  showing  that  the  former  passed 
through  a  phase  of  Neoplatonism,  in  which  his  pan- 
theism was  much  less  formal  or  abstract  than  it  after- 
wards became.      Thus  the  predicates  applied  in  the 
Ethics  to  God  are  applied  here  to  nature,  as  by  Bruno 
also  :_Nature  is  infinite  in  the  sense  of  "  without  limits 
or  bounds,"  containing  no  parts  in  itself,  and  therefore 
not  a  whole  over  against  other  wholes  ;  there  cannot  be 
two  infinites,  or  boundless  worlds.*      The  parallelism 
between  outward  nature  and  the  thought  or  under- 
standing of  God  is  also  more  after  Bruno's  mode  of 
expression  (ch.  ii.  §  n.  19)-     "Neither  substance  nor 
qualities  can  be  in  the  infinite  understanding  of  God, 
which  are  not  fomaliur  in  nature  (1)  because  of  the 
infinite  power  of  God— there  is   no  cause  or  ground 
in  Him  why  He  should  create  one  thing  rather  than 
another,  hence  He  creates  aU ;    (2)  because   of  the 
simplicity  of  His  will ;  (3)  because  He  cannot  refrain 
from  doing  what  is  good."     The  thesis,  and  the  first 

1  S.^,  Tracatc  eh.  i.  %  9.  »<"»  »"»»*•  <^"^  ^'"^  "'     ^'S*""^'  ^"""-  ^""■' 
pp.  115,  116. 


\ 

I         \ 


II 


RATIO  AND  INTELLECTUS 


341 


and  third  of  the  arguments  by  which  it  is  supported, 
are  all  verbally  close  to  Bruno's  argument  in  the  Injinito 
and  in  the  Be  Immenso,      So  the  effort  of  all  finite 
things   after    self-conservation,^   and    their    consequent 
movement,  are  explained  not  mechanically,  through  the 
action  of  one  material  thing  upon  another,  but  rather 
spiritually,  through  the  unity  of  nature  in  which  all 
share.  Thus  even  that  possibility  of  an  action  of  thought 
upon  matter  (extension)  is  allowed,  which  in  the  Ethics 
is,    formally   at    least,   denied.       In  the    Tractate   also 
there  is  more  emphasis  laid  upon  the  goodness  of  God, 
as  the  source  of  the  infinite  world  of  finite  beings, 
whereas   in  the  Ethics  a  logical,  mechanical   necessity 
takes  its  place.     It  is  in  the  second,  more  mystical  and 
ethical  part,  of  the  treatise,  however,  that  the  influence 
of  the  Nolan  philosopher  is  most  apparent,  and  here  it 
is  the  Sumtna  Terminorum  or  Heroici  Furori  that  seems 
to  have  formed  the  direct  or  indirect  source  of  many  of 
the  conceptions — such,  for  example,  as  the  distinction 
between   Ratio    and    Intellectus.      Ratio    is   discursive  Ratio, 
thought,  building  up  knowledge  by  successive  steps ; 
Intellectus  "  intuitive  thought,"direct  and  simultaneous 
perception  of  the  whole  of  the  object — the  only  ade- 
quate  or    complete    form    of    knowledge,    for   which 
reasoning  is  merely  a  preparation  in  us.     Our  know- 
ledge of  God,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  at  all,  is  of  the 
second  type  :    we  cannot  know  Him  as  he  is,  through 
His  effects.  His  creation  :  it  is  only  the  few  to  whom  He 
reveals  Himself  that  can  know  Him  as  He  is,  by  direct 
contact  with  Him.      Yet  this  revelation  is  constantly 
open  to  all  men  ;  for  each  and  all  God  is,  always,  inti- 

*  "  //  deiio  di  conservarsi  "  of  Bruno.  Pollock  [Spinoza,  p.  109)  refers  to  Descartes, 
Prin.  Phil,  2,  chs.  37  and  43,  and  Spinoza's  Cog,  Met.  (pt.  i.  ch.  6,  §  9),  where  the 
"effort  "  is  "the  thing  itself,"  whereas  in  the  essay  it  is  providence,  i,e.  God.  Cf. 
part  i.,  ch.  5,  with  Ethica,  iii.  6  and  7. 


i' 


1 1 


1^ 


»»: 


III 


i 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


mately  present,  *'  more  intimately  than  each  is  to  him- 
self." ^     Other  ideas  which  Sigwart  has  found  common 
to  the  Shorl  Tractate  and  the  writings  of  Bruno,  are 
those  of  the  Love  of  God  as  springing  from  the  know- 
ledge of  God  ;  the  correspondence  between  the  degrees 
or  stages  of  love  and  those  of  knowledge  ;  the  inability 
of  our  minds  to  rest  in  a  finite  object  or  finite  good, 
the  constant  pressure  onwards  towards  other  and  other 
objects  ;  the  contrast  between  sensible  love  and  intellect- 
ual love  ;  God  as  the  highest,  most  complete  object,  the 
knowledge  of  Him  above  and  embracing  in  itself  all  other 
knowledge,  making   the  knower  one  with  his  object, 
transforming  him  into  God  himself;  the  divine  Harmony 
in  the  soul  which  ensues  ;  the  love  of  God  which  is 
man's  highest  blessedness,  which  is  wholly  disinterested, 
and  blind  to  all  earthly  good  or  beautiful  things  ;  love 
which  is  unlimited  in  its  possibility,  as  its  object  is 
infinite :  with  this  limitless  possibUity  of  Love  is  the 
idea  of  immortality  connected ;  but  '*  Bruno  deduces 
from  the  immortality  of  man  the  possibility  of  a  love 
which  increases  infinitely ;  while  for  Spinoza,  on    the 
contrary,  the  infinitely  increasing   love  of  God   is   a 
ground  of  proof  for  immortality."'     When  there  is 
added  to  these  many  instances  of  doctrines  in  Spinoza's 
earlier  work  which  were  later  modified  in  the  direction 
of  greater  rigidity  and  mechanical  systematisation,  the 
fact  that  the  Tractate  embraces  two  tentative  dialogues, 
in  one  of  which  Spinoza  is  represented  by  a  Theophilus 
(as  Bruno  in  so  many  of  his  dialogues  is  represented), 
it  is  impossible  not  to  feel  convinced  that  Spinoza  for  a 
period  of  his  life  at  least  was  a  follower  of  Bruno.     It 
is  true  that  many  of  these  ideas  are  not  the  property  of 
Bruno  done,  but  of  the  school  of  Neoplatonism  of 


1  Sigwart,  iV««rn/.  Tracts  pp.  120-114. 


«  lb.  p.  129. 


II 


LEIBNIZ  AND  BRUNO 


343 


which  he  like  Spinoza  was  at  any  rate  a  partial  adherent, 
but  nowhere  else  than  in  Bruno  is  to  be  found  the  same 
"  collocation  "  of  these  ideas  as  occur  in  this  tractate  of 
Spinoza.  It  is  an  open  question  whether  the  movement 
of  the  latter  away  from  the  Italian's  philosophy  was 
entirely  a  progressive,  and  not  in  some  respects  a  retro- 
grade movement. 

At  first  sight  it  might  seem  much  more  natural  to  Ldbnir. 
connect  Leibniz  with  Bruno,  because  of  the  obvious 
correspondence  of  many  of  their  fundamental  ideas  : — 
their  analysis  of  the  universe  into  a  system  of  inde- 
pendent realities,  each  differing  from  every  other — each 
mirroring  the  universe  in  itself  from  its  own  individual 
point  of  view  ;  each  therefore  in  a  sense  containing  or 
comprising  the  all  in  itself,  as  each  is  again  a  necessary 
constituent  of  the  all.  In  place  of  Spinoza's  dead 
world,  we  find  ia^ I.^.ihniz^, as  in  Bruno^  finite  things  in 
constant  flow,  constant  change,  each  passing  necessarily 
tKrough  every  phase  through  which  any  other  has 
passed — representing  the  universe  as  it  is  in  time,  as 
well  as  the  universe  as  it  is  at  any  moment  in  actual 
existence  ;  each  experiencing,  in  other  words,  the  life, 
the  process,  as  well  as  the  quality,  the  being  of  the  all. 
Everything  that  is,  is  necessarily,  everything  that  occurs, 
occurs  necessarily,  in  Bruno  because  the  whole  flows 
out  from  the  thought  of  God,  as  God  thinks  it  {i,e,  in 
the  relations  in  which  it  stands  in  the  one  all-embracing 
thought  of  God)  ;  in  Leibniz,  because  of  the  will  of 
God,  who  in  His  goodness  has  chosen  the  best  of  all 
ideal  systems,  within  which  each  thing  or  event  has  its 
necessary  place.  In  both,  all  things  are,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  whole,  good  : — in  Bruno  because  in  God 
truth  and  goodness,  will  and  understanding,  are  one  ; 
in  Leibniz  because  of  the  will  of  God,  which  has  chosen 


H 


-  n,8,iijat..%^ 


I 


344 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


for  the  best :  evil  is  finitude,  or  again  is  ignorance,  an 
error  of  standpoint.      In  both  freedom  and  necessity 
are  one,  because  the  necessity  belongs  to  God's  own 
nature  ;    He  wills  out  of  Himself,  undetermined,  unin- 
fluenced from  without,  and  this  is  freedom.     In  both, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  principle  of  sufficient  reason  is  a 
ground    both    for    the    infinite    number    and    infinite 
variety  of  the  finite  beings  in  the  universe,  and  for  the 
impossibility  that  two  should  exist  which  are  exactly 
identical    one    with    another.      Were    it    known    that 
Leibniz   had    studied    Bruno   before    his    system   was 
formed,  we  might  almost  say  that  he  had  chosen  that 
aspect  of  the  Nolan  philosophy  which  with  Spinoza  had 
been  disregarded,  viz.  the^aspect  in  which  all  rights 
are  given  to  the  finite  individual,  and  to  the  world  of 
finite  beings,  as  each  representing  the  infinite,  contain- 
ing the  infinite  in  itself,  and,  so  far  as  possibility  goes, 
each  of  infinite  divine  worth.     Whereas  just  that  side 
which  appealed  to  Spinoza  would  have  failed  to  touch 
Leibniz — the  side  in  which  God  appears  as  one  with 
the  universe,  not  as  beyond  or  outside  of  it,  but  as 
immanent  in  the  whole,  and  present  in  the  fulness  of 
His  nature  to  each  and  every  member  of  the  whole. 
Philosophically   Leibniz'    mission   was  to  develop  the 
Cartesian    doctrine    of    the    three    substances — God, 
finite  spirit,  and  body — in  a  direction   which  identi- 
fied the  first  and  third  with  the  second,  broke  up  the 
unity   of  God   into   the    immeasurable   many   of   the 
monad  spirits,  and  its  infinity  into  indefiniteness.     The 
God  of  Leibniz,  even  as  the  highest  of  the  monads,  is 
separate  from,  apart  from,  the  other  monads — a  finite 
along   with   other   finites.      So   each  of  the   ordinary 
monads  is  a  world  by  itself,  shut  up  within  itself,  with 
no  windows  from  which  it  can  look  out  upon  the  world, 


II 


DIRECT  INFLUENCE  ON  LEIBNIZ     345 

and  real/y  be  affected  by  what  is  passing  without  it. 
There  is  no  without — each  is,  in  a  word,  God,  and  so  far 
as  it  is  concerned  there  may  be  no  other  being  in 
existence.  Bruno,  on  the  contrary,  was  fully  conscious 
— at  times — of  the  necessity  of  holding  the  balance 
between  the  infinite  unity  of  God  and  the  finite  units  or 
realities,  which  are  the  expression,  the  manifestation, 
the  self-revelation  of  the  one.  Why  this  revelation  ? 
he  does  not  indeed  ask  ;  but  given  it  as  actual,  he  finds 
the  reconciliation  in  it  at  once  of  the  necessity  of  the 
whole  and  the  liberty  of  the  unit,  the  goodness  of  the 
all  and  the  moral  frailty  of  the  individual.^ 

Interesting  as  this  speculative  comparison  of  the  two 
philosophies  may  be,  there  is  not,  however,  even  the 
slightest   ground    for  attributing  any  direct  historical 
influence  of  Bruno  upon  Leibniz.     If  influence  occurred 
at  all — which  is  doubtful — it  was  through  Spinoza  or 
some  of  the  minor  philosophical  writings  of  the  time. 
Lacroze    (in   a   letter    of    1737)    accused    Leibniz  of 
**  having  drawn  his  whole  system  "  from  Bruno's  book 
De  Maximo  et  Minimo  {sic !)  :  he  added  that  he  had 
told  Leibniz  this  fact  himself,  both  by  word  of  mouth 
and  in  writing,  and  that  the  reason  why  so  ftw  had 
noticed  it  was  that  the  philosophical  writings  of  Bruno 
were  obscure  and  repellent.     The  same  suggestion  has 
been  repeatedly  made  since — more  especially  as  regards 
the  name  '*  Monady'\which  Leibniz,  after  much  search- 
ing and  deliberation,  gave  to  his  *^real  unities"  from 
1696  onwards.^     Brunnhofer  goes  so  far  as  to  see  both 
the  ideas  and  the  main  formulas  of  Leibniz  in  Bruno — 

*  Cf.  Carriere.     Op.  cit.  p.  471  fF. 

2  T/iesauri  Epistolici  la  Cro%iani,  1746  j  Hansch,  Prin.  P kilos.  Leibn.,  1728  j  Thcs. 
ix.,  xxxi.,  Ixxi.  Cf.  StefFcns,  Clemens,  Diihring,  Brunnhofer,  op.  cit.^  and  also  in 
G.B.'s  Lehre  vom  KhimUn^  ah  die  S^elle  der  prd-establirten  Harmcnie  von  Leibniz, 
1890  ;  also  Tocco,  etc. 


\ 


1/ 


ill 


\ 


V 


346 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


the  monad-doctrines,  monads  as  living  mirrors  of  the 
universe,  as  figurations  of  God,  the  Pre-established 
Harmony— the  future  as  involved  in  the  present,  "  the 
present  is  pregnant  with  the  future,"— the  phenomen- 
ality  of  sense-objects— God  as  the  highest  monad,  etc. 
He  argues  that   Leibniz  derived  his  idea  that  "the 
monads  have  no  windows  by  which  anything  can  enter 
or  depart "  from  casual  remarks  by  Bruno  as  to^  the 
'* windows  of  the  soul,"  "the  gates  of  the  senses''  by 
which  images  enter  in,  or  "the  chinks  and  holes"  by 
which  we  gaze  outwards  upon  the  world.     The  coup 
de  grdce  was  given  to  this  legend,  for  so  we  must  call  it, 
by  Ludwig  Stein  in  his  Leibniz  und  Spinoza}     He 
showed  that  Leibniz  was  already  in  full  possession  of 
the  idea  of  the  monad  at  least  ten  years  before  he  found 
the  most  fitting  expression  for  it,  and  that  after  1696 
he  used  the  word  "  Monad  "  always  as  the  distmctive 
badge  or  typical  name  for  his  substances  or  forces; 
that  before  1700  he  knew  of  Bruno  only  one  of  the 
Lullian  works  (the  De  Arte  Combinatorid,  v.  Dutens, 
ii.  367),  and  perhaps  the  mathematical  articles  (adv. 
Mathematicos,  ib.  iii.  147)-     Apart  from  these  works, 
which  could  have  no  reference  to  his  own  philosophy, 
he  was  acquainted  with  Bruno  only  by  hearsay,  as  a 
reputed  forerunner  of  Descartes ;  even  as  librarian  of 
the   Brunswick    Library,    although    some    of  Bruno's 
works  were  in  his  guardianship,  he  is  not  Ukely  to  have 
read  them  until  his  attention  was  called  to  them  by 
their  alleged  resemblance  to  his  own   theory.      And 
then,  as  we  learn  from  the  letter  to  Lacroze  (nth 
April  1708),' he  hardly  appreciated  them  at  their  true 

I  Ein  Beitrag  ssur  Entwickelungsgesckkhte  der  Leihni%schen  PhtlosophU  (1890),  v. 

pp.  197  ff. 

«  In  Dutens,  v.  492  ;  cf.  also  a  letter  of  ist  May  (p.  493). 


i 


n 


LEIBNIZ  ON  BRUNO 


347 


value — "  Mr.  Toland  has  not  spoken  to  me  of  the 
Specchio  {i.e.  Spaccio^  an  error  that  does  not  show  much 
familiarity  with  Bruno)  della  Bestia  trionfante  of 
Giordano  Bruno.  I  think  I  have  seen  the  book  at 
some  time,  and  that  it  is  against  the  Pope.  I  have  two 
works  of  his  on  the  Infinite,  one  in  Latin,  the  other  in 
Italian.  The  author  is  not  wanting  in  genius,  but  is 
not  very  profound  {ne  manque  pas  d' esprit,  mats  il  nest 
pas  trop  profondy  Elsewhere  he  speaks  of  Bruno 
only  ^as  believing  in  "innumerable  worlds"  with 
Leucippus  and  Democritus,  and  as  having  been  burnt, 
not,  as  he  believes,  on  account  of  his  book  the  Be 
Immenso,  but  for  other  opinions.^ 

There  is  therefore  little  reason  to  suppose  that 
Leibniz  had  great  interest  in  Bruno,  or  that  he  had 
read  his  works  so  carefully  as  to  have  derived  any 
sustenance  or  advancement  for  his  philosophy  from 
them.  Stein  has  in  any  case  shown  that  the  term 
"  Monad  "  came  to  Leibniz,  not  from  Bruno  at  all,  but 
from  the  younger  Van  Helmont,  in  whose  theory  it 
plays  almost  as  important  a  part  as  in  Leibniz — 
although  the  difference  between  the  two  '^Monads" 
was  greater  than  the  resemblance.^ 

Meanwhile  literature  in  France  and  England  had 
not  lost  sight  of  Bruno.^  In  1633  there  was  published 
in  the   former  a  play,   Boniface  et  le   Pedant,  which 

*  In  Dutens,  v.  385  (June  17 12),  and  v.  369. 

*  It  appears  that  the  term  Monas  Monadum  used  by  Bruno  of  God  does  not  occur 
in  Leibniz  at  all. 

*  In  BwtonX  j^natprny(ifMehjS£JoJ^^         Brunus  appears  with  Copernicus  as 
author  of  "some  prodigious  tenent  or  paradox  of  the  earth's  motion,  of  infinite i 
worlds  in  an  infinite  waste  "  (vol.  i.  p.  1 1  of  Shilleto's  edition).     In  the  "  Digression! 
on  Air,"  the  Cena  is  referred  to  (ii.  p.  46),— the  changes  of  sea  and  land,  the  fixed' 
stars  as  suns  with  planets  about  them,  the  air  of  the  heavens  as  identical  with  that 
of  the  earth,  the  infinite  worlds  in  an  infinite  ether  {ib,  47,  57,  62).     Bruno,  infelix^ 
Brunui  as  Kepler  had  called  him,  is  classed  with  atheistical  writers  in  a  later  part  06 
the  work  (vol.  iii.  p.  447).  ^ 


■  ^-    MBi^^r. 


.!■ 


II 


34B 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


has  been  described  as  a  refined  and  Gallicised  imitation 
of  the  Candelaio  ;  in  its  turn  it  suggested,  perhaps,  the 
Pedant  Jou4  of  Cyrano  de  Bergerac,  and  some  of  the 
pedant-scenes  in  Moliere.^  In  1634  in  England  a 
masque  by  Thomas  Carew — the  Coelum  Britannicum — 
was  played  in  English  by  Charles  L,  which  was  based, 
partly  at  least,  upon  the  SpacciOy  with  Charles  I.  in  the 
place  of  Truth.^ 
Bayic.  Pierre   Bayle,   by   the   article    in    his    Bictionnaire 

Historique  et  Critique  (1697),  which  had  a  very  wide 
influence,  probably  damned   Bruno's  reputation  for  a 
century.     The   article  on  Spinoza  also  did  the  same 
service  for  the  Dutch  philosopher,  with  whom,  indeed, 
Bayle  joined  Bruno,  as  having  held  the  same  "  abomi- 
nable docrine  "  of  atheism.     He  had  no  real  knowledge 
of  Bruno,  the  biography  is  frivolous  and  inexact,  and 
the    philosophy — a   garbled   version — is   reported    on 
hearsay.^      It   was    Bayle's    authority   which   stamped 
Bruno   with    the    sarcastic    description    of  "a    knight 
errant    in    philosophy,"    which    has   sometimes    been 
spoken  of  as  a  happy  touch  of  Hegel's  invention,  but 
really  dates  back  to  one  Lionardo  Nicodemo  (1683), 
who  described  Bruno  as  "  playing  the  part  of  a  wan- 
dering knight  {i,e.  a  travelling  scholastic),  now  here, 
now  there,  at  different  universities  in  France,  England, 
Germany,  Switzerland,  Italy,  with  shield  pendant,  and 
lance  in  rest,  challenging  the  Aristotelians  to  learned 
combat."*      In    England    the    same   aspersion   upon 
Bruno's    name  was  stereotyped   by  an  article  in    the 
Budgeii.      Spectator  of  May  27,   17 12  (one  of  Budgell's).    The 
writer,  however,  had  the  fairness,  which  Bayle  had  not, 

^  Bartholmess,  i.  pp.  261,  262. 

•  Fidt  Sluarterly  Review,  October  1902  :  "  Giordano  Bruno  in  England,"  and 
the  biography  of  Carew  in  EncycL  Briton,  (by  R.  Adamson). 

»  Cf.  Bartholmess,  i.  p.  263.  *  Fide  Rixncr  und  Sibcr,  op,  cit,  heft  v.  p.  234. 


II 


TOLAND 


349 


to  read  Bruno's  Spaccio  before  making  reflections  upon 
It.      Contrary  to  his  expectations,   for  Bruno  was  "a 
professed  atheist,  with  a  design  to  depreciate  religion," 
he  found  "very  little  danger"  in  it.     This  did  not 
prevent    him    from    taking    Bruno    as    a   text    for    a 
would-be  humorous  disquisition  on  Atheism.     It  was  Toiand. 
John  Toiand,^  the  "  poor  denizen  of  Grub  Street,"  and 
once  famous,  or  infamous,   author    of  Christianity   not 
Mysterious,  who   In    England  first  paid  Bruno  some- 
thing of  the  respect  he  deserved.     His  championship 
was  not,  perhaps,  of  the  most  discerning  or  of  the  most 
valuable,  but  it  was  honest.     A  copy  of  the  Spaccio  had 
come  into  his  possession, — one  which  he  believed  to  be 
the  only  one  then  in  existence, — and  as  a  result  of  his 
reading  he  claimed  Bruno  as  the  founder  of  free  thought. 
He  had  studied  the  sayings  on  Divine  Magic  in  that 
work,  and  had  fastened  on  the  fact  that  Bruno  "  re- 
garded magic  as  nothing  but  a  more  recondite,  non- 
vulgar,  although  perfectly  natural  wisdom."     This  was 
certainly  true  ;   but  Toiand  added,  ''So  he  sometimes 
calls  the  eternal  vicissitude  of  material   forms  Trans- 
migration," which  was  at  least  misleading.      Among 
his  manuscripts  Toiand  left  *'  an  account  of  Giordano 
Bruno's  Book  of  the  Universe  "  {Be  rinfinito),  along 
with   a  translation   of  the  introductory  epistle.^    And 
somewhat  earlier,  in  17 13,  a  translation  of  the  Spaccio 
was  made  into  English  by  W.   Morehead,^  who  may 
have  been  one  of  Toland's  brethren,  as  the  Quarterly 
Reviewer    suggests.      Toiand   himself  was,   however, 

1  Janius  Junius  Toiand  (1669-1722)  j  v.  Leslie  Stephen's  EngVuh  Thought,  etc., 
vol.  i.  ch.  3. 

'  Vide  Collection  of  several  pieces  of  Mr.  John  Toiand,  with  some  memoirs  of  his  life 
and  writings,  London  (1726),  vol.  i. 

^  According  to  the  British  Museum  Catalogue.  No  name  is  on  the  title  page  of  the 
work—"  Spaccio,  etc,  or  the  Expulsion  of  the  Triumphant  Beast."    To  the  chequered 


I' 


i  I 


\   A 


. 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


believed  to  be  the  author.     He  had  visited  Lacroze 
at  Berlin  in  1706,  and  had  defended  the  Nolan  against 
that  virulent  searcher-out  of  atheists,  deists,  pantheists, 
and  the  like  "  miscreants  and  libertines/'    To  a  fellow- 
enthusiast   in   Germany   (Baron   Hohendorf)   Toland 
wrote  three  years  later,  giving  the  proofs  of  Bruno's 
punishment,  with  a  translation  of  Schopp's  account,  and 
stating  his  belief  as  to  Bruno's  real  doctrine  (viz.  free- 
thinking).^     "  The  author,"  he  wrote,  "  gives  full  play 
to  his  spirit,  which  is  always  diverting,  but  at  the  same 
time  very  powerful;    he  is  often  diffuse,  but  never 
wearisome.     In  a  very  small  space  he  has  expounded 
a  complete  system  of  natural  religion,  the  theory  of 
ancient  cosmography,  history,  comparison  and  refutation 
of  different  opinions,  besides  many  curious  observations 
on  diverse  subjects.    But  the  author  abounds  in  pleasan- 
tries, and  in  satirical  traits  :  he  is  impious  in  a  sovereign 
degree,  and  does  not  always  keep  himself  within  the 
limits  of  allegory."     And  so  Bruno,  like  Spinoza  in 
this  also,  went  down  to  posterity  as  a  worthless,  impious 
atheist,  one  of  the  reputed  authors  of  the  mythical  work 
De  Tribus  Impostoribus^  which  no  one  had  ever  seen, 
but  in  which  the  three  founders  of  the  great  religions  of 
the  world  were  attacked  as  conscious  cheats  !     So  far 
was  the  world  as  yet  from  understanding  the  martyr 
for  truth  and  for  « the  religion  of  thought." 

It  was  from  Germany  that  the  reaction  came. 
The  story  of  the  restoration  of  Bruno's  name  (his 
Ehrenrettung)  has  been  told  by  Bartholmess,  and  needs 
but  a  very  brief  sketch  here.     Heumann  ^  repudiated 

history  of  this  title  and  its  various  interpretations  may  be  added  a  modern  instance 
from  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  lub  Vautrollitr  :  "Bruno's  Last  Tromp  " ! 

1  Vide  Toknd'i  Miscellaneous  JVorks,  London  (i747)»  ^^'^'  »• 

«  Acta  Philosophcrum  (1715  ff.),  parts  iii.  ix.  xi.  xv.,  cf.  Zimmcrmann  in  Mm. 

Helvet.  T.  v. 


II       RESTORATION  OF  BRUNO'S  NAME    351 

Lacroze's  description  of  him  as  an  atheist  and  fore- 
runner  of  Spinoza's   pantheism,   describing  him  as  a 
martyr  for  the   Lutheran  faith  and  as  an  eclectic  in 
philosophy.      Brucker  ^—without  the   historical  sense, 
but   a   painstaking    and    learned,    if    diffuse,    analyst^ 
judging  all  philosophies  by  the  standard  of  orthodox 
Protestantism    and    the    Leibnizian    philosophy— yet 
sympathised  with  Bruno,  described  him  as  an  ''  eclectic, 
combining  ideas  of  the  Eleatics  with  those  of  Democritus 
and    Epicurus,    Copernicus    and    Pythagoras,   not    an 
impostor,  but  an  intellectual   enthusiast— ra;;^  ratione 
insanivitr     Throughout    the   remaining    part    of  the 
century  a  number  of  monographs  appeared,  by  Jordan, 
Christiani,  Kindervater  ;  with,  on  the  contra  side,  Less- 
man  and  Lauckhard.      Adelung  thought  Bruno  worthy 
of  a  place  in  his  History  of  Human  Folly  (1785).     In 
the  same  year  (1785)  appeared  F.  H.  Jacobi's  Letters 
on  Spinoza s    Philosophy,  which  contained  a  "restora- 
tion "  at  one  stroke  of  both  Bruno  and  Spinoza  to  their 
place  among  the  great  names  of  the  history  of  thought.^ 
This  fine  thinker — if  not  great  thinker — penetrated  by 
the  beauty  and  calm  of  Spinoza's  pantheism,  saw  in 
Bruno  a  true  forerunner.     Bruno  had  ''taken  up  the 
substance  of  the  ancient  philosophy,  transformed  it  into 
flesh  and   blood,  was  wholly  permeated   by  its  spirit, 
without  ceasing  to  be  himself."     Naturally  it  was  in 
the  Causa  that  Jacobi  found  the  greatest  affinity  with 
Spinoza,  as  in  it  the  starting-point  of  Bruno  is  from  the 

One,  the  Highest,  which  is  at  the  same  time  the  All 

the  universe,  the  unity  of  the  One  and  Many,  of  Spirit 
and  Nature.  Jakobi's  friend,  Hamann,  the  ''  Wizard 
of  the  North,"  the  mystical  critic  of  Kantianism,  went 

'  Kurze  Fragen  aus  der  Phil.  Hist.  (1736),  and  Hist.  Crit.  (1742-1744). 

2  Cf.  his  fFerke,  t.  iv.  pt.  2. 


U 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


'     I 


a  step  further  than  Jakobi  himself;  Bruno's  principle 
of  the  coincidence  of  opposites,  he  said,  was  of  more 
value  to  him  than  all  the  Kantian  criticism.     In  the 
pantheistic  or  monistic  side  of  Bruno's  philosophy  he 
found  sympathy  with  his  own  revolt  against  the  excessive 
intellectualism  and  rationalism  which  seemed  to  him  to 
be  the  chief  danger  of  the  Kantian  philosophy.^    Ggetbe 
also  was  carried  away  by  the  flowing  tide  of  enthusiasm, 
and,  indeed,  his  own  philosophical  conception  had  much 
affinity  with  that  of  the  Nolan,  although  in  their  inner 
natures  the  two  men  diflFered  tofo  coelo}     Buhle— first 
in  his  Comment  on  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  Pantheism 
(1790),  afterwards  in  his  learned  and  careful  History  of 
Philosophy^— pl^ctd  Bruno  amongst  the  highest  of  pan- 
theistic writers.      Even  Tennemann^  grows  eloquent 
over  the  brilliant  eflFort  of  Bruno,  by  which  he  almost 
achieved  a  philosophy  of  the  Absolute  two  centuries 
before  Schelling  and  Hegel.*    Fulleborn  is  more  cautious 
and  critical,  but  in  his  Contributions  to  the  History  of 
Philosophy  he  gives  analyses  and  extracts  from  several 
of  Bruno's  works.^     Schelling  himself,  as  is  clear  from 
the  dialogue  which  he  wrote  bearing    Bruno's   name, 
regarded  the  Italian  as  nearest  to  himself  among  his 
forerunners  in  the  philosophy  of  the  absolute.     There 
is  obviously  a  close   analogy  between  the   two  ;  and 
Schelling  may  be  said  to  take,  with  regard  to  the  course 
of  philosophy  after  him,  the  same  place  which  Bruno 
took  as  regards  the  lines  of  development  in  the  philosophy 
of  the  seventeenth  century.    Both  had  a  wider  view,  and 

1  Cf.  Carriere,  of>.  at.  p.  475-  ^  „  _      .  -^,.  ^ 

^  Brunnhofer  has  suggested  an  active  mflueace  of  Bruno  upon  Goethe-^.  Gothc 
^Jahrbuch  (i886),  Gbthe's  Bildkraft  (1890),  Leipzig  j  also  Camere,  p.  487. 
3  Geschichte  dts  ntmren  Philo«>phie,  6  vols.,  Gottingen  (1800-1805),  vol.  2. 

*  History  of  Philosophy,  ii  vols.  (i798-«8»9)»  vol.  9,  pp.  371-4^9- 

*  BettragCj  vii.  4  and  xi.  i. 


II 


HEGEL 


353 


perhaps  a  deeper  insight,  than  their  successors,  white 
lacking  the  power  of  strenuous  thought  necessary 
to  carry  out  their  views  into  the  completeness  of  a 
philosophical  system.  It  is  doubtful,  however,  whether 
Schelling  knew  much  more  of  Bruno  than  Jakobi  s 
essay  and  his  abstract  of  the  Causa  had  to  tell. 

Hegel  took  a  much  less  enthusiastic  view  of  Bruno's 
philosophy  than  did  his  contemporary  and  sometime 
partner— to  place  Bruno  on  a  level  with  Spinoza  was 
to  give  him  a  higher   reputation  than  he  deserved: 
his  doctrine  was  a  mere  re-echo  of  the  Alexandrine. 
Yet    Hegel,    too,   saw  something    to   admire    in    this 
"  Bacchantic "  spirit,  revelling  in  the  discovery  of  its 
oneness  with  the  Idea,  and  with  all  other  beings,  with 
the  all  of  nature  which  is  an  externalisation  of  spirit. 
It  was  under  the  influence  of  Hegel  or  of  the  Hegelian 
philosophy  that  the  first  really  complete  and  satisfactory 
studies   of  Bruno   appeared  :— Christian    Bartholmess' 
Jordano   Bruno,^  and   Moritz  Carriere's  Philosophische 
IVeltanschauung  der  Reformations zeit?     The  quick  and 
generous  enthusiasm  of  the  first,  the  wide  philosophic 
comprehension  of  the  second  have  probably  done  more 
to  attract  public  attention  to  the  forgotten  Nolan,  and 
to  guarantee  him  a  permanent  place  in  the  history  of 
philosophy,  than  any  other  writings  about  him.     Since 
their  time  the  literature  upon  Bruno  has  steadily  in- 
creased, and  with  it  has  grown  the  comprehension  of 
and  sympathy  with  the  man  as  well  as  with  the  idea  he 
so  fearlessly  proclaimed,  and  so  strenuously  defended. 
It  is  no  part  of  the  purpose  of  this  work  to  parallel 

'  2  vols.,  Paris,  1846,  1847. 

2  Stuttgart  ,847,  pp.  365.494.  2nd  edition,  enlarged,  Leipzig,  1887,  z  vols. 
Both  of  the  above  works  were  preceded  by  a  translation  into  Italian  (by  Florence 
Waddmgton)  of  Schelling's  Dialogue,  with  an  introduction  by  Terenzio  Mamiani  (on 
Uruno),  Firenze,  1845  }  2nd  edition,  1859. 

2  A 


\ 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


PART 


354 

Bruno  with  any  of  the  more  modern  philosophers.     It 
is  foolhardy  to  say,  for  example,  as  Brunnhofer  does, 
that  Schopenhauer  alone  reaches  the  same  height  of 
literary  style   in    modern    philosophy,   "although  the 
Nolan  leaves  the  Frankfort  philosopher  far  behind  him 
through  the  strength  of  his  philosophical  conception  of 
the  universe,  which  holds  its  own  against  pessimism  and 
optimism  alike."  i     It  is  foolhardy,  and  it  is  misleading, 
to  place  him  in  comparison  with  philosophers  who  have 
nearly  three  centuries  of  thought,  of  social,  industrial, 
and  literary  growth,  between  him  and  them.     Like  all 
the  philosophers  whom  a  touch  of  poetical  imagination 
has  redeemed,  Bruno  stands  more  or  less  alone,  and  he 
overtops  all  the  others  of  his  century.      None  of  the 
ordinary  rubrics  of  historical  terminology  in  philosophy 
apply  to  him,  not  even  that  of  *' Eclectic."     He  is 
far  more  than  that.     His  phUosophy,  as  perhaps  these 
pages  have  shown,  bears  the  stamp  of  individuality,  the 
individuality  of  a  strong  mind,  fed  with  nearly  all  the 
knowledge,  and  aU  the  out-reaching  guesses  at  truth  of 
its  own  time,  and  of  the  times  that  had  gone  before, 
striving  to  turn  this  difficult  mass  into  nourishment  for 
itself,  and  to  transmit  the  achievement  to  others.     He 
was  an  eclectic,  just  as  every  great  thinker  is  an  eclectic, 
but  it  is  the  bricks  merely,  not  the  style  of  architecture, 
that  he  has  borrowed  from  others.     He  never  founded 
a  school,  not  merely  because  the  circumstances  of  his 
life,  and  the  fate  of  his  writings,  precluded  him  from 
being  widely  known  or  studied  in  any  country,  but  also 
because  his  philosophy  was  too  much  a  thing  of  himself 
to  be  readily  attractive  to  many  of  his  hearers  or  readers. 
Yet  it  has  been  a  force  making  for  the  progress  of 

1  Op.  cit.,  rorrede,  xl     A  bibliography  of  the  more  recent  works  on  Bruno 
if  given  at  the  beginning  of  this  volume. 


ii 


II 


CONCLUSION 


355 

thought  and  of  liberty,  and  it  is  still  an  active  force. 
Human  nature  has  not  yet  lost  the  tendency  to  rest 
calmly  in  its  "  habit  of  believing,"  to  shut  itself  up  in 
its  finite  world,  refusing  either  to  look  abroad,  or  to 
look  at  itself  from  an  external  point  of  view  ;  it  is  still 
apt  to  think  "  geocentrically,"  to  take  its  molehills  for 
mountains,  while  "  underlooking,"  if  the  term  may  be 
allowed,  the  real  mountains  that  are  before  it,  to  hold 
doggedly  to  one  contrary,  reject  utterly  the  other, 
whereas  the  truth  always  lies  in  their  unity.  To  these 
recurring  foibles  of  humanity,  and  more  especially, 
perhaps,  of  philosophic  humanity,  the  fresh  and 
vigorous  writings  of  the  Dominican  monk  and  martyr 
of  the  sixteenth  century  will  ever  form  a  healthy 
counterpoise. 


4 


L 


n 


It 


II 


ADDITIONAL  NOTES 

I.  To  p.  5  and  p.  27,  Bruno's  upbringing,— In  the  Infinito,  Lag. 
362.  34,  Burchio,  the  Aristotelian  pedant  of  the  dialogue,  addresses 
Fracastorio  in  the  following  polite  terms  :--"  You  would  be  more 
learned  than  Aristotle— you,  a  beast,  a  poor  devil,  a  beggar,  a 
wretch,  fed  on  bread  of  millet,  perishing  of  hunger,  begotten  of  a 
tailor,  born  of  a  washer-woman,  nephew  to  Cecco  the  cobbler, 
'-'figol  di  Momo,  postiglion  de  le  puttane,  brother  to  Lazarus  that  makes 
shoes  for  asses  !  "  It  is  almost  incredible  that  any  one  should  have 
taken  these  words  as  biographical  or  rather  auto-biographical.  They 
are  in  the  mouth  of  a  pedant  and  enemy  :  they  are  addressed  not 
to  the  Bruno-character  of  the  dialogue  ("  Philotheo"),  but  to 
Fracastorio,  who  temporarily  takes  his  place  as  a  well-trained 
disciple.  Yet  Lagarde,  that  amazing  editor,  gravely  wonders 
whether  the  Dominicans  did  not  know  that  their  novice  had  been 
"postiglion  de  le  puttane,"  or  whether  they  were  glad  to  forget  it 
when  they  saw  the  pure  and  attractive  young  face  !  {v,  Lagarde's 
edition  of  the  Italian  works,  pp.  789,  798). 

2.  To  p.  10.  The  Arian  /f^mj.— Before  the  Venetian  tribunal 
Bruno  explained  his  position  with  regard  to  the  Arian  heresy 
thus  : — "I  showed  the  opinion  of  Arius  to  be  less  dangerous  than 
it  was  generally  held  to  be,  because  generally  it  is  understood  that 
Arius  meant  to  say  that  the  Word  was  the  fiist.  creation  of  the 
Father,  and  I  declared  that  Arius  said  the  Word  was  neither  Creator 
nor  Creation,  but  intermediary  between  the  Creator  and  the 
Creation,  as  the  word  is  intermediary  between  the  speaker  and  what 
is  spoken,  and  therefore  it  is  said  to  be  first-born  before  all  creatures ; 
through  it,  not  out  of  it,  have  all  things  been  created.  .  .  ." 
(Doc.  xi.  Bert.  i.  p.  403). 

3.  To  p.  33.     Sidne;^  and  Greville, — Greville  had  been  a  school- 

357 


;^'r:::" 


m\ 


i 


I 


I 


I  ^ltl 


358 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


mate  of  Sidney  at  Shrewsbury,  but  proceeded  to  Jesus  College, 
Cambridge,  while  Sidney  went  to  Christ  Church  at  Oxford  ;  after- 
wards they  were  constant  friends  at  Court.  When  Sidney  went  to 
Heidelberg  in  1577,  the  Queen  would  not  allow  the  handsome 
Greville  to  accompany  him,  nor  would  she  let  either  go  with  Drake 
to  the  West  Indies  in  1585,  and  Greville  was  kept  at  home  from 
Leicester's  Expedition  to  the  Low  Countries,  in  which  poor  Sidney 
met  with  a  heroic  death  (Oct.  17,  1586).  In  a  letter  of  1586, 
Greville  describes  Sidney  as  "  that  prince  of  gentlemen  "  :  writing 
to  Douglas  after  Sidney's  death,  he  says  that  the  name  of  Sidney's 
friendship  has  carried  him  above  his  own  worth.  The  epitaph 
Greville  wrote  for  himself  is  familiar,  but  will  bear  repetition  :— 
"  Fulke  Greville,  Servant  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  Councillor  to  King 
James,  and  friend  to  Sir  Philip  Sidney.     Trophaeum  Peccatir 

4*  To  p.  35.  Vautr oilier  and  5r«»<?.— Vautrollier  traded  in 
Scotland  as  early  as  1580  as  a  bookseller:  he  had  already  enjoyed 
the  patronage  of  King  James,  and  was  even  encouraged  to  return 
with  a  printing  press,  which  he  did  in  1584.  Thereafter  he  pub- 
lished in  both  London  and  Edinburgh  till  1587.  On  the  other 
hand  some  of  Bruno's  works  were  printed  in  1585,  so  that  the 
theory  of  Vautrollier's  flight  to  Scotland  owing  to  his  being  the 
printer  of  Bruno's  works,  falls  through.  The  business  in  London 
was  carried  on  during  his  absence  by  his  wife,  and  the  "  troubles " 
out  of  which  Mr.  Randolph  helped  him  were  quite  unconnected  with 
Bruno,  and  may  have  arisen  from  his  printing  of  John  Knox's 
Historj  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland,  which  Archbishop  Whitgift 
suppressed.  The  letter  to  Mr.  Randolph  is  in  L'Espine's  Treatise 
tf  Apostasy,  1587  (VautroUier  :  London). 

5.  To  p.  51.  Mordentius.—Fahnzio  Mordente  of  Salerno  was  a 
mathematician  of  the  sixteenth  century,  of  whom  only  two  works 
are  known  to  have  existed,— one  published  in  1597,  the  other 
written  in  conjunction  with  his  brother  Gaspar  in  1591.  He  was 
the  inventor  of  an  eight-point  compasses  of  which  Bruno  writes  in 
the  second  of  the  Mordentius  dialogues,  and  on  which  he  bestows 
apparently  extravagant  praise.  The  peculiarity  of  the  invention, 
as  far  as  one  can  discover,  consisted  in  the  introduction  of  four 
"runners,"  two  on  either  limb  of  the  compasses,  and  secured  by 
screws  ;  but  there  seems  to  have  been  no  gradation  of  the  compasses, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  perceive  any  great  value  in  the  novelty,  without 


ADDITIONAL  NOTES 


359 


that  essential  addition.  The  first  of  the  two  dialogues  suggests  a 
possible  origin  for  some  of  Bruno's  ideas  on  atomic  geometry,  as  we 
find,  attributed  to  Mordentius,  two  ideas  that  were  applied  to  some 
purpose  in  Bruno's  own  mathematical  works.  They  are  (i)  that  of 
the  measurement  of  inappreciable  subdivisions  of  continuous 
quantities  by  integration,  and  (2)  that  of  the  impossibility  of  infinite 
division,  the  continuous  being  composed  of  discrete  minima,  beyond 
which  no  division  can  go,  and  the  minima  (like  the  maxima)  being 
relative,  differing  in  different  subjects,  so  that,  for  example,  what  in 
astronomy  is  a  minimal  quantity  may  in  geodesy  be  greater  than  the 
diameter  of  the  earth. 


i( 


u. 


'». 


ft«r-/Lr'.% 


-^S  ••#-•"•—  •^M-.*«»«^«9*«« 


— ^  -^  •    ■• 


INDEX 


•»». 


f 


I 


'h^ 


^Absolute,  first  principle  or,  166 

Agrippa    of    Nettesheim,    Cornelius,     148, 
149;    ^e  occulta  philosopkia,    131,    149. 
De  Sanitate  Scientiarum,  149,  257 
Alasco,  Prince,  of  Poland,  23 
Algerio,  Pomponio,  4 

Alsted,   John    Henry,    Artificium  perorandL 
114 

Anaxagoras,  126 

Animism,  305  j  universal,  147 

Antidicsonm^  36,  324 

Aquinas,  St.  Thomas,  9,  80,  137 

Areopagus,  literary  society,  27 

Arctino,  Pietro,  Cortegiana  of,  19 

Arian  heresy,  the,  357 

AThtot\t,  De  Anima,  16,  158,  159;  criticism 
of;  50,  123  i  Organon,  53,  55  j  Topics,  55  ; 
Metaphysics,  113,  125  j  Rhetoric,  114,  138: 
Physics,  115,  116,  122,  125,  236;  De 
generatione  et  corrupt ione,  116  j  Meteor 0- 
logka,  116  J  Bruno's  acquaintance  with, 
121 -23  J  rejection  of  mathematical 
method,  1235  treatment  of  predecessors, 
124  J  Logic,  138  J  theory  of  limitation 
of  space,  183  J  on  finitude  of  world,  185, 
186  J  on  plurality  of  worlds,  197 
Asinity,  257 
Aspiration,  291 

Atom,  the,  236  j  knowledge  implies  the, 
227}  spherical,  240  j  and  materialism, 
249 

^tomism,  belief  of  Bruno  and  Cusanus  in, 
147  i  a  metaphysical  doctrine,  227,  246  j 
mathematical,  24 5  J  physical,  247  j  critical, 
247  J  and  mathematics,  331 

Avarice,  272 

Avenarius,  337 

Averroes,  136,  305 

Avicebron  or  Avencebrol,  Forts  Vitae,  135 

Bacon,  Francis,  33,  123,  139,  325-29; 
Nonmm  Organum,  123,  124,  327-325 
Historia  Naturalis  et  Experimentalis,  325  j 
Htstoria    Ventorum,    3265    De    Augmentis 

361 


I        Scientiarum,  327,  328,  333  j  method,  329  ; 

theory  of  form,  330 
Balbani,  Nicolo,  of  Lucca,  13 
Bartholmess,  Christian,  2,  16,  20,  97,  311, 

348,  350 
Basaus'  Catalogue  of  Frankfort  Books,  65 
Bayle,  Pierre,  348 

Beauty,  281,  2835  reason  apprehends  true, 
281 

'  Bellarmino,  censor  of  Bruno's  works,  89 
Berti,  Domenico,  5,  8,  10,  11,  94,  95,  333, 

Besler,  Bruno's  pupil  and  copyist,  114-17 

Bible's  teaching,  the,  299 

Bochetel,  Maria  de,  47 

Body,  distraction  of  the,  288 

Bodies,  movements  of,  216  ;  prime,  224 

Brunnhofer,  3,  18,  41,  51,  60,  64,  89,  114, 
301,  337,  345,  354 

Bruno,  Giovanni,  father  of  Bruno,  3 

Bruno,  Giordano  (Filippo),  birth  and  family, 
3  J  childhood,  5,  357  J  at  Naples,  8,  121  ; 
enters  Dominican  Order,  9  ;  became  priest, 
9  J  charges  of  heresy,  9,  10 ;  at  Rome,  10  j 
at  Venice,  11,  66  j  at  Padua,  12,  69  j  at 
Geneva,  12  j  before  Consistory,  15  j  at 
Toulouse,  16,  17  J  Doctor  in  Theology 
and  professor,  16  j  at  Paris,  17,  18  j 
Reader  at  the  university,  20  j  at  London, 


21  ;    at    Oxford, 


21  J 


impressions    of 


Oxford,  25  ;  relation  to  Mauvissiere,  27  j 
on     Mauvissiere,     29  j     admiration     for 
women    of    England,    41  j    hostility    in 
England,  45  j  consults  Bishop  of  Bergamo, 
48  J  associate  of  College  of  France,  49  ; 
at  Marburg,  51  j  at  Wittenberg,  52  j  at 
Helmstadt,  60  ;  denounced  by  Mocenigo 
at  Venice,  72,   7 3  •   examination   before 
Tribunal,   74,   294,    357;   defence,   75-j 
creed,  76,  j-j,  109  ;  abjuration  of  errors, 
81  ;  remitted  to  Rome,  84  j  orthodoxy, 
87  ;_death,  q2-Q6  j  grounds  for  death,  97  ; 
mission,   103^3   dislike  of  pedantry,   105  j 
ofrgmairty,  107  j  optimism  in  philosophy. 


''■I 

I 


'«! 


362 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


''i 


} 


11%  If  St  3131  works  published  during 
imprisonment  and  posthumously,  1 13-17  5 
interest  in  Greek  philosophy,   125  ;    and 
"^usainus^  147  ;  religion,  597  >  rationahsin,^ 
301  ]~ restoration  of  name,  351 
^^hthlicatims— Italian  Dialogues,  5,  29, 
34,  45,  127  j  SigUIus  Sigillorumy  5,  12,  17, 
37,   III,   112,    137,  140.  297;  ^«  ^P^''^ 
Jtal'ume^  5,  89  }  Opera  Latina^  6,  7,  12,  17, 
20,  22,  40,  80,  96,  106,  113,  114»   »"» 
126,  127,  134-37*  140*  H»i  >5i»  ^78, 
180,  181,  183,  184,  188,  196-200,  202, 
207,  209-11,  213,  216,  230,  231,  235, 
236,  242,  243,  260,  261,  266,  292,  295, 
297,298,302-4,  307,  310*  3"»3i3-i^ 
318-20,  334,  335  ;  De  Immenso,  8,  48,  51, 
62,  65,   108,    122,  133,   I52»   180,    183, 
185,   186,   191,   192,   196,  203-08,  212, 
213,  215,  218,  221,  223,  226,  307,  311, 
315  ;  Sgm  of  the  Times,  1 1  ;  ^k  of  Noah, 
II ;  Cabala^Wy  40,  41,   102,   107,   149, 
219,  2^2;'265,  270,  308  J  dna,   12,  23, 

at5»  *7/"33>  35.  37,  4»,   >o3^  »o4'   »°^' 
108,  123,  125,  126,  152,  161,  163,  170, 
216,  219,  268,  299,  300,  301,  310,  327  } 
Cla-vis    Magna,    17,    37  5    "The    Thirty 
Divine  Attributes,"   17  i  ^^  Umbrn,  18, 
19,    103,    107,    IIS,    3»o»    3^4 i    ^« 
Memoria,    18  j    Cantiu   Circaus,   18,   37} 
De  Cempendiosa  Architectural  19,  140,  141  ; 
//  Candelaio,  19,  106  ;  Oratio  Consolatoria, 
21,    60,   260,    298  ;    Explicatio    Triginta 
SigiUorum,  22,  26,  34,  37  }  "  Immortality 
of  the  Soul ' '  and  "  The  Five-fold  Sphere," 
25  J  Causa,  25,  29,  30,  33,  35,  38,  106, 
124-26,    132,  133,  135,   137,    138,   150, 
153,    155,   200,   302,   309,  340  J   Infimto, 
28,   108,   125,  131,  142,  180,   185,   192, 
217,  221,  224,  310,  357  ;  Spaccio,  32,  39, 
40,  46,  57,  130,  131,  I44»  H9»  »6o,  224, 
252-54,  265,  296,  302,  306,  307,  341  } 
Heroici  Fur  or  t,  32,  41,  42,  ioo»  ^26,  129, 
134,    «37,   252,  ,^53,    302,    310,    3'3  5 
Modern  and  Complete  Art  of  Remembering, 
37 ;    Centum    et    Viginti,    Articuli    De 
Natura  et  Mundo,  49  ;  De  Lampade  Com- 
idnatoria,    53,    I39»    2615    De    Lampade 
Combhtatoria  Luliiana,    54;    De  Specierum 
Scrutino,     54,     59,     "4>      ^'    Progressu 
Lampada    Venator ia    Logiccrum,    55?    De 
Minimo,62'6$,  106,  116,  160,  163,  178, 
223,  226,  228,  234-36,  238-41,  243,  312, 
313,  320;  De  Monade,  62,  65,  80,  149, 
150 ;  Articuli  adv.  Mathematicos,  1 10,  244, 
295,  318,   335;    Summa  terminorum  meta- 
pkysicorum,  113,  304,  305,  308,  321,  341  } 
Artifcium  perorandi,  114;  Lampas  Triginta 
Statuarum,  114,  295,  313,  3 H,  320,  321  } 
De  Magia,  et  Theses  de  Magia,  116  j  De 


Magia  Mathematica,  116,  137  ;  De  Rerum 
Principiis  et  Element  is  et  Causis,  116}  De 
Medkina  Luliiana,  117,  139  ;  De  Vinculis 
in  genere,  117,  134,  266;  Acrotismus,  180, 
217,  223,  225,  226 

Budgell,  Eustace,  in  Spectator,  348 

Buhle,  History  of  Philosophy,  352 

Burton,  Robert,  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  347 


Cabala,  Hebrew,  130,  131 

Camden's  Elizabeth,  24 

Cardanus,  150 

Carriere,  Moritz,  339 

Cause  of  nature,  efficient,  157,  184  ;  formal, 

158  ;  final,  158 
Change,  ceaseless,  205,  210,  221 
Christianity,  attack  on,  225 
Cicala,  Mount,  5,  7 
Clemens,  F.  J.  142,  266 
Coincidence  of  all  things  in  One,  172,  176  ; 

of  contraries,  176,  179,  209  }  verifications 

of,  177-79 
Comets,  Bruno's  theory  of,  212^ 
lCommerce,11ic  gVUs 'of;  2^9 
Company  of  St.  John  the  Beheaded,  95,  96 
Contarini,  Venetian  procurator,  report  of,  84 
Continuum  not  divisible,  237 
,  Copernicanism,  a  heresy,  89  ;  influence  of, 
on  Bruno,  no 
Copernicus,    ilo_-52_£_  De  orbium  coelesttum 

JRevoTutionlhus,  150 
Culpepper,  Warden  of  New  College,  26 
Cusanus.     See  Nicolaus  of  Cusa. 

Death  and  life  contrasted,  289 
r  Pemocritus,  126- 'dl,  l-X"*} 
ijescartes,  334-36  '  ^^'' 

Desire,  human,  181 
Dicson,    Alexander,    35,    36;    De    Umbra 

Rationis,  36,  324 
Disputation  of  Pentecost,  49 
Divine   essence,   attributes   of,    193  ;    union 
with  the,  280  J  finite  soul  and  mind,  307 
Divinity  of  Christ,  79;    of  matter,  157 
Domenico  da  Nocera,  71,  75 
Dominicans,  the,  8,  357 
Douglas,  Archibald,  47 
Dufour,  Theophil,  14 

Earth,  the,  208  :  as  centre  of  gravity, 

its  movements,  211  j  and  suns, 
Eglin,  Raphael,  64,  1 1 3 
Egyptian  theosophy,  130  ;  religion,  305 
ElementSj^  the,  1^85  ;  in  isolation,  209 
^llzafctH;  Queen,  21,  30,  31,  47,  8i  i   the 

London  of,  41,  45 
Empedocles,  126 
England,  works  published  in,  37 
I    Epitaph,  Bruno's,  99    \ 


■avity,  190  j\ 
3,211  J 


Erlangen  Codex,  116 

Ether,  the,  206,  245 

Euclid,  simplification  of,  243 

Evolution,  theory  qf^27o 

Existences,  finite,  i7"3j  differ,  all,  235 

Faith  and  works,  254 

Faye.  Anthony  de  la,  14 

Ficino,  Marsilio,  128 

Figure  in  body  and  space,  189 

Finite  soul  and  jlivine.mind^  307 

Fiorentino,  in  Giornale  de  la  Domenica,  6 

Fire,  Bruno's  theory  of,  209 

Florio,   21,  35,  43;   "First   Fruites,"  35  j 

translation  of  Montaigne,  35 
Form,  intellect  as,  158,  160;  natural,  165 
Franco,  Nicolo,  39 
Frankfort,  works  published  at,  51,  62,  66, 

114  J  petition  to  council  of,  63 
Furor  (inspiration),  kinds  of,  279 

Gassendi,  Pierre,  336,  337 
Gemistus,    Georgius    (Gemistus    Plethon), 
127,  128 

(^  Gentile,  Alberico,  53 
God  in  us,  291,  316  J  love  of,  291-93,  342  j 
man  and,  298  j  in  nature,  315  j  in  him- 
self, 317 
Goethe,  352 
Golden  Age,  the,  266 
Greville,  Sir  Fulke,  27,  33,  43,  357 
Crrun,  professor  of  philosophy,  54 
Gwinne,  Matthew,  35,  43 

Hegel,  353  J  De  Orbitis  Planetarum,  108 

Helmstadt,  Bruno  at,  60,  61 

Hennequin,  John,  49 

Henry  III.,  17,  18 

Heraclitus'  fire,  125 

Heretical  propositions,  the  eight,  90 

Heumann,  Acta  Philosophorum,  350 

lamblichus,  129 

Ideas,  abstract,  196 

Identity  in  God,  167  j  in  kind  of  all  beings, 

215 
Imagination  of  Bruno,  107  ' 

Immaculate  conception,  rejection  of,  109 
Immortality,     1 59 ;      meaning     of,      309  j 

individual,  311 
Indifference  of  all  things  in  the  Infinite,  173 
Infinite    and    the    finite,    the,    187,    307; 

action  between  the,  187  j  relation  of,  188 
Intellect,  282,  341 

Intelligence  and  Love,  290  j   instinct  and, 
219 

Isolation,  no  elements  in,  209 


INDEX 


363 


Jacobi,  F.  H.,  Letters  on  Spinoza's  Philosophy^ 

351 
Jews,  antipathy  towards  the,  265 
Judgment,  262  j  based  upon  sensations,  234 
Juvenal,  104 

Kepler,  333 

Knowledge  of  God,  194  ;  principles  of,  229  ; 

relativity  of,  233  j  Bruno's  Summum  Bonum, 

276 

Lacroze,  345,  346,  350 

Lagarde,  5,  11,  12  ,23,  25,  27,  28-31,  36,  40, 

42,  46,  57,  102-8,  124,  et  seq.,  142,  144, 

150,    154-65,    167-69,   172,  et  seq.,   185, 

193,  216,  et  seq.,  252,  253,  255-57,  259, 

261  et  seq.,  276-93,  296  et  seq.,  357 

Law,  function  of,  262 

Leibniz,  Monadology,  224  j  and  Bruno,  343  j 

Bruno's  influence  on,  345  ;  on  Bruno,  347 

Lessing's  idea  of  myths  anticipated,  io8 

Life,   one  principle  of,   199  j  the  practical, 

261  i  the  strenuous,  279  j  and  death  con- 

trasted,  289 

London  of  Elizabeth,  the,  42,  45 

Love,  degrees  of,  281  ;  intelligence  and,  290 

Lucian's  Parliament  of  the  Gods,  39 

Lucretius,  127  ;  De  rerum  natura,  127 

Lully,  Raymond,   138-41  j  Art  of  Reasoning, 

"5,  139,  333 
Luther,  57 

Magnus,  Albertus,  137 
Man  and  the  animals,  270  j  and  God,  298 
Matter,  divinity  of,   1575  spirit  and,   161  j 
and  form,  163,    168  j  deduction  of,  163  j 
the  true  substance,   165  j  as  potentiality, 
166  J    substrate   of  the   spiritual    world, 
168  ;  the  ultimate  unity,  171 
Matthew,  Tobias,  26 
Mauvissiere,  26,  27,  29,  47  j  Teulet  Papers, 

23  }  Salisbury  Papers,  47 
Melanchthon,  52 
Mendo9a,  Bernardino  di,  31,  32 
"Metaphysical  Remains,"  113 
Minima,  the  three,  227  j  in  the  classification 

of  the  sciences,  229 
Minimum,  relativity  of,  227  j  as  substance, 
230}    indestructible,    231  j    mathematics 
of  the,  241 
Miracles  and  deceit,  257 
Mirror  of  God,  182 

Mocenigo,  Giovanni,  66,  67,  70,  72,  73,  75 
Moisture,  a  material  element,  207 
Mordente,  Fabrizio,  51,  358 
Morehead,  W.,  39,  349 
Morosini,  Andrea,  71 
Mystical  and  naturalistic  attitude  compared 

no.  III 


I 


364 


GIORDANO  BRUNO 


fl 


iff  I 


'^    \ 


i* 


i 


Naples,  Bruno  at,  8,  ill  ;  cloister  at,  9 

Nature  as  one  and  many,  169  j  permanence 
of  beauty,  harmony,  175  j  uniformity  of, 
203  J  and  spirit,  251 

Necessity  and  liberty,  195 

Neoplatonist  school,  127,  128  j  mysticism 
of  the,  110,  134 

Nicodemo,  Lionardo,  348 

Nicolaua  of  Cuaa,  141,  176 ;  sketch  of  his 
philosophy,  142-48  ;  De  Docta  Ignorantia, 
'43»  '45*  257  ;  and  Bruno  compared,  144, 
146  ;  Alchorany  145  j  De  Latdo  globi,  147  j 
De  Idiota,  149 ;  De  Conjecturisy  148  ;  De 
Fisione  Dei,  148  ;  De  Feaatione  Sapientia, 
148 

Nigidius,  Petrus,  51 

Nola,  3,  4,  7 

Object  of  De  Min'mo,  226 
Ovid,  Metamorphoses^  99 
Oxford  and  Aristotle,  21,  22  j  Bruno's  im- 
pressions of,  25 

Padua,  12,  69 

Paracelsus,  149,  150  j  ad  miraculum  medtcut, 
150 

Paris,  18 

Perfection,  abstract  conception  of,  198 ; 
plurality  and,  199  j  nature  of,  201  ; 
progress  and,  285 

Peripatetic  philosophy,  theses  against,  49  ; 
criticism  of  theory,  49 

Philosophy,  practical  test  of  a  perfect,  112  ; 
Bruno's — Matter  and  spirit,  1 59  j  necessity 
and  liberty,  195  ;  similarity  in  composites, 
234  J  time  and  space,  237;  part  and 
limit,  239  J  peace  and  liberty,  261  j 
sincerity,  264  j  temperance,  265  j  evolu- 
tion, 270  J  avarice,  272  j  fortune,  272  ; 
courage,  273  j  simplicity,  273  j  solicitude, 
274  J  beauty,  281,  283  }  love,  281,  290 

Pius  v..  Pope,  39 

Plato,  Tmausy  131;  Republic^  131 

Platonism,  Platonists,  128,  133 

Plethon.     See  Gemistus,  Georgius 

Plotinus,  132,  133  }  Enneads^  132,  168 

Pognisi,  Giordano  Bruno,  96 

Prague,  59 

Pre- Aristotelians,  the,  125 

Predicates  of  God,  1 14  j  of  substance  and 
nature,  115 

Primum  mobile,  the,  185 

Principle  :  cause,  155  ;  first  or  absolute,  166 

Process,  the  infinite,  284 

Progress,  human,  269  ;  and  perfection,  285 

Prudence,  the  virtue  of  deliberative  faculty, 

Quarterly  Review,  27,  34,  348 


Ramus,  Petrus,  Dialectic  of,  16,  324 
Ratio  or  discursive  thought,  341 
Rationalism    in    Bruno,    301  j     mediaeval, 

305 
Reality  of  things,  timeless,  321 
Reuchlin,  Johann,  De  arte  cabbalistica,  131 
Riches  and  poverty,  271 
Riehl,  Giordano  Bruno,  69 
Roche,  La,  Memoirs  of  Literature,  94 
Roman  people,  Bruno  on,  263 
Rome,  Bruno  at,  10  j  tribunal  at,  91) 
Rudolph  II.,  59 

Savolina,  FrauHssa,  mother  of  Bruno,  3 

Schelling,  352 

Scholastics,  the,  137 

Schopenhauer,  354  y 

Schopp,  Caspar,  40,  94 ;  letter  on  Bruno's 

death,  92,  350 
Self-consciousness,  273 
Sense-knowledge,  relativity  of,  232 
Shakespeare,  34,  35 
Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  12,  27,  31,  32,  35,  59, 

357 
Sigwart,  3,  52,  63-65,  67,  86,  337,  340, 

34* 
Soul,  the  goods  of  the,  271  j  the  body,  286  j 

functions  of  the,  286  ;  hierarchy  of,  313 
Soul-principle  in  bodies,  216,  224 
Spagnolo,  Alfonso,  48 
Spenser,  Edmund,  Cantos  on  Mutability,  33  j 

Farie  ^en,  33 
Spinoza  on  Bible  interpretation,   108  ;   and 

Bruno,  176,  337-43  }  De  Deo  seu  Homine, 

340,  342  J  Ethics,  341 
Spirit  and  matter,  161  j  unity  of,  and  body, 

170 
Stars,  souls  of  the,  217 
Stein,  Ludwig,  346 
Superstition  and  natural  law,  7 

Tansillo,  affection  of  Bruno  for,  5  ;  quoted, 

283 
Tasso,  Aminta,  36,  268 
Telesio,  De  natura  rerum,  1 50 
Temple  of  Wisdom,  the,  57  j  builders  of,  128 
Tennemann,  Wilhelm  G.,  352 
Theism  in  Bruno,  319 
Theophilus  of  Varrano,  121 
Tiraboschi,  Girolamo,  historian,  107 
Tocco,    Felice,    Conjerenza,   90 ;    Le    Opere 

Latine  de  G.  Bruno,  114,  2255  criticism 

of  Lampas   Triginta  Statuarum,  115;    Le 

Opere  Inedite  di  G.  Bruno,  115,  116  j  Le 

Fonti  piu  recenri,  138,  149 
Toland,  John,  38,  94,  349 
Trinity,  rejection   of   the,   109 ;    Cusanus* 

proof  of  the,  145  j  interpretation  of  the, 

*94»  29s 


^•i 


INDEX 


Trismegistus,  Mercurius  or  Hermes,  129 

?k;'"^  r-P*"'"!  ""''  'Geological,  76  ; 
the  "implicit  universe,"  274.  27c  -  the 
twofold,  303  ^^'     75  ,    tne 

Universe,  infinite  in  extent,  182,  183  :  per- 
fection of  the,  190  ^'  ^ 

Vacuum,  the,  240 

Vanini,  Lucilio,  burnt  as  a  heretic  at  Tou- 
louse, 17,  334 

Vautrollier,  bookseller,  34,  358 
Venice,  works  published  at,  11  j  tribunal  at, 
Po  e^g'  ^^^  *  ''^'^'^'°"  ^tween,  and  the 

Verifications  of  coincidence    177 
Vico,  Marquis  of,  12 
Virtues,  table  of  the,  259 

Wagner  in  Bruno's  Opere  Italiane,  89 


365 


Waldensian  persecution,  8 

Watson      Thomas,     Compendium     Memoria 

Whole  and  its  parts,  the,  186 

Williams,  L.,  41 

Wisdom  reviewed,  275 

Wittenberg,  Bruno  at,  51,  52  j  works  pub- 
lished at,  54,  55  J  lectures  at,  114  j  notes 
dictated  at,  115  '       1 1 

Wittmann,  Archi-v  fur  Geschichte  der  Philo- 
jophie,  135,  136 

Works,  Marburg  edition,  113  j  State  edition 
"3-115  i  published  during  imprisonment 
and  posthumously,  113-1175  Noroff  col- 
lection, 116,  117 

Worlds,  innumerable,  191,  194  j    decay  of, 

Zurich,  Bruno  at,  64  j  work  published  at 
II?  ♦ 


THE    END 


\ 


Printed  by  R.  &  R.  Clark,  Limited,  Edinburgh 


w 


ll'' 

"  H' 


MACMILLAN  AND  CO.'S  STANDARD  BIOGRAPHIES. 

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